MineZ: The End is Here
by MeatBucket Productions
Summary: The end is here, a world is in ruin, and the dead have risen. Waking on a strange beach a man named Michael searches for answers in a place where the apocalypse is here... (Remember to leave a review and perhaps fav/follow, it helps a lot. Now accepting OCs!)
1. Chapter One: Stranger in a Strange Land

MineZ: The End is Here

"Hello?" he said into the radio, the only answer seemed to be a whine of static from the peculiar radio but he tried again and held the strange device up to his lips. "Hello is anyone there?" he tried again as he walked down the beach, he was walking steadily down the grass with the gray and briny ocean on his right, sloshing off into the southern horizon. Pausing he held the spherical device up in the air but received nothing more but another stuttering wave of static.

The man had woken up further down the coast in the swampy west a few hours ago and had been moving ever since. He had woken up with an old backpack strapped on, a cracked leather chestplate, a rustic sword, and the radio which wasn't working. The first thing he had seen was the coast leading into the east and the western swampy marshes; he had chosen the one that seemed to be the safest. For some reason he saw that when there was any signs of people it was always on the coast, right on the beach that lead into the gray ocean.

For the past few hours he had looked through the backpack and had found a water bottle, the radio, a small box full of gauzes and bandages and a strange slip of paper. The backpack was full of strange little things but the slip of paper was the oddest; printed on it was a black handprint and under it where several red symbols that meant nothing to the man. He had also inspected the backpack and found what appeared to be a custom made loop for the sword to be held and a small logo for the "North Maine Trading Company" also trademarked as the NMTC.

So the man had walked down the beach for several hours now watching as the sun passed from the zenith of the midday downwards to the west behind him. Whilst trying to get a signal on his radio the man, out of pure boredom, had also looked at the small black cut out of him sprawled out in front of him that was getting taller as the sun sunk behind him. As he tried the radio every few minutes (it didn't even seem to run on batteries) the man also considered what had happened to everyone else in the world.

Several times the man considered going into the pine forest that appeared to his left but it seemed to become very foreboding whenever he thought about going into it. It was like a natural instinct in his brain, north was dangerous, so the man had continued east with the strange spherical radio in hand. Also, sometimes the man thought just out of the corner of his eye he could see a (or maybe a few) shapes move in the darkening shadows of the pine forest.

Trying the radio once again the man looked up into the sky and saw that the sun was now a smear of orange on the horizon, collapsing into magenta. Stretching the man wondered what he should do now, night was falling and pale stars where already starting to shine in the darkness of the sky. Going out in the dark, the man considered to himself, was probably not the best idea; the memories of those shapes darting in the thicket of the forest kept coming back to him.

If he had a light though, the man thought and continued to make short strides down the beach as the magenta on the horizon darkened into blackness. Shrugging the man unslung his backpack and dropped the radio inside and took out the water bottle, taking a quick swig the man looked around the area. The coast was now cloaked in darkness and not a spot of light was in sight, the moon was starting to rise as well, giving nothing but a strange glow to the unfamiliar landscape.

Sitting down the man muttered to himself about sleeping on the ground as started to drift off to sleep. His eyes fluttered close and just as the first beginnings of a dream played in his head he was yanked out of slumber. The backpack he used as a rough pillow was vibrating! Quickly opening the backpack, he saw that the small radio was letting out a large assortment of static and seemed to be playing some kind of rough transmission!

Excited he looked around and saw that there was a shape up ahead. It seemed dressed in a similar armor outfit that the man was but the figure was mostly in shadow under the glare of the moon and was walking towards the coast. As the man moved forward towards the figure he suddenly realized something. The figure had come out to the south which meant it had stumbled onto the coast from the north and from out of the forest; this thought made the man pause.

Looking at the shape in the moonlight, the man studied it carefully and saw that it seemed to be swaying as the shape stumbled towards the beach. Unlike the darting shadows that the man had seen earlier this shape seemed to be perfectly human and was moving rather slowly; if it was a human then they were in need of help. It was this thought the made the man run towards the figure which swayed into the surf of the ocean and then collapsed in the swell of a wave.

Sprinting towards the person the man saw that the figure that had lurched out of the forest was now lying face down in the wet sand. Coming closer the man saw the figure was wearing a dirty leather helmet and had on thick leather boots as well; taking the figure's arms the man dragged the shape away from the water. Flipping the figure over the man saw that it was actually a woman with long brown hair clasped behind the leather helmet. He also saw that the rough neck of an arrow sprouted from her side and three nasty scrapes were on her arm.

"Hey!" the man called to her, "hey can you hear me?!" and after a few minutes of quick shouts at her the woman's eyes flickered open. The man noticed an empty quality in them, whoever this woman was she was dying. Opening her mouth a small groan came out but then her head rolled over. Calling to her again the woman snapped back into attention and her eyes flared open, looking at him.

"I don't have anything please don't," whatever she said was lost when the brief energy she had quickly faded away. Her head rolled to one side with a small trickle of blood coming from her mouth.

"No!" the man shouted at her in concern, "stay with me, please," he said to her. He didn't want the first person he met to die on him and after pulling her face from lolling to one side she sucked in a painful breath again.

"Who, who are you?" she asked as her eyes tried to focus on the man.

"My name's Michael," the man quickly called, "we need to get you help," Michael breathed out and instantly went to his backpack and pulled out the gauze and bandages.

"Won't help," the woman rasped and then after coughing out a short streamlet of blood she stopped breathing. Taking a few steps away Michael watched as her hand went limp and let out her own version of the radio. Horrified that the woman had died, Michael was already looking around with a million thoughts buzzing in his head.

Right as he was about to start going up the beach and into the east something seemed to draw his eye. The radio the woman had let roll out of her hand suddenly seemed to be his center of attention. Quickly scooping it up so he wouldn't have to be next to the dead body he brought it up to his eyes and looked over it. He noticed that on the very bottom was a small black circle with "NMTC" printed on it and almost burned near the top of it was a black handprint.

When he saw the black handprint it almost didn't register but when it did he let it drop to the ground like it was burning. The radio hit the ground with a small cough of static and rolled away towards the ocean. Picking it up again Michael suddenly came to the realization that something was on his hands, something that was sticky and still warm. In the faint moonlight he could see the radio had a few patches of deep scarlet on it. In disgust he let out a sharp cry and hurtled the radio in the ocean; for a few seconds while in the air it seemed to almost let out a dull glow but then it fell into the water.

Leaning down into the ocean, Michael cleaned his hands and upon drying them on the ancient leather chestplate stood back up. Turning back he looked down the beach to where the woman was, the only change being that her body wasn't there. He couldn't see from his distance but strange disorganized tracks trailed from the place where the woman died to the forest, the woman however was still dead.

Shaking his head and pulling the rustic sword from the backpack loop the man continued forward.

**A/N: So what do you think? This and the first few chapters will be a bit a long; hope you guys don't mind. And, yes, things will get a bit more action-y as we get further along but for now things will be a bit simple. Remember to drop a review just for the heck of it and maybe fav/follow it to become an official Bucketier!**


	2. Chapter Two: Fugitive of the Black Hand

**A/N: Here we go again, so for the few that reviewed: thanks! So, I will also be doing a "Things to Remember," things in previous chapters could have effects on things in chapters later so this will be like a "Previously on… (Insert TV show title here)"**

**Things to Remember: **

**The woman with leather armor and an arrow in her side. **

**The parchment that has a black handprint on it that's in Michael's backpack.**

Michael had seen the man just as the moon was about to reach its zenith. Since night had fallen Michael had found he was walking painfully slow and so he still found himself looking back to spot where that woman died. The thought had haunted him but when he saw the man his thoughts began to rise again until he saw what the man was doing. It was almost rather funny, but the man had come out of the forest again and it seemed that he had been attacked by something hostile.

Draped over his chest was a leather chest plate that was split down the middle. In one hand the man had a very large glass bottle of something and in the other was a small radio, whilst turning the radio off and on again and slurping out of the bottle the man was dancing. Not so much dancing, moreover twirling around in one spot while walking towards the ocean, he also appeared to be singing. He seemed to get more and more into the dance the more he drunk from the bottle.

Stopping right on the very edge of the land the man stopped singing and finally noticed that he had a radio in his hand. Turning it on again the man looked up into the night sky and turned back towards the forest. As Michael drew closer to the man he heard the man shout into the radio: "you can suck it Zachery! I'm not part of your frigging Guild!" He put the radio up to his ear and waited for a response, receiving none he then threw it into the ocean.

"Uh…," Michael cleared his throat to get the man's attention but the man was already taking a large swig out of the glass. Coughing he looked down at his feet that were clasped in tough leather boots and watched as the surf washed over them. "Hello?" Michael tried again to the man but he seemed to be in his own world.

"Some bloody idiot spilt his drink," the man cursed as he took a few steps back and then finally sucked the entire bottle clean. Michael had gone close enough to see that the man had been drinking a very strange green liquid; the man now took the bottle and threw it towards the forest. When it crashed and shattered he seemed surprised but then started laughing to himself in between small hiccups. Finally he seemed to notice Michael and waved to him as he pulled another bottle of green liquid from his backpack.

"Hello?" Michael asked the man, almost surprised, "who are you?" he tried but the man had already taken a gulp out of the bottle. But surprisingly the man was already focusing back on him, but he looked somewhat offended.

"Who are _you_?" he asked and when Michael told him his name the man rolled his eyes again and mumbled in a slurred voice something very sarcastic. "How do I know that you know," he paused as if he lost himself.

"Umm," Michael tried again and the man looked back at him, like he forgot he was there.

"I didn't steal this by the way," the man coughed through a few spasms of hiccups and pointed to the large glass bottle in his hand filled with green liquid. Taking another large swig the man swayed and then staggered on his own feet, "swear I didn't" he coughed again and then went back to his drunk dancing.

"Where did you get that?" Michael asked the man as he cleaned the bottle again, "what happened here?"

The drunken man only seemed to pay attention to the first question but then excused himself for a moment. Looking down the neck of the bottle he then hurled it out into the sea where it spiraled silver in the moonlight, and then crashed into the sea. For a few seconds he seemed to stare at something on the horizon but then shook his head and turned back to Michael ready to answer his question. To answer the question, the man coughed and held his palm in Michael's face.

"This is where I got it from," he said and Michael saw that on the man's palm was a small stamp of a black hand, just like the one the woman had had on her radio. "And you can suck it Zachery!" the man shouted out into the forest.

For a few seconds Michael looked into the forest and for a few seconds he thought there seemed to be something dashing under the branches, but then it was gone. Looking back to the drunken man Michael saw that he had reached into his backpack and had pulled out yet another green bottle that he opened and sipped.

"Last one," the man said to himself, he turned to Michael and explained, "only took three." He then downed a good quarter of the bottle and looked out to the horizon again. His eyes seemed to stay on something but he turned back to Michael, but every couple minutes he looked back again and again.

"Why did you leave?" Michael questioned and after a large swig, the man answered in a slurred voice.

"Had to get out of there after what happened to Ana, and I decided to bring three little friends with me," the man explained and then took another large swig from the last of his "friends."

"What happened to Ana?" Michael asked he then was taken back on himself when he realized that he seemed to ask a lot of questions.

"You seem to ask a lot of questions," the man mumbled to himself and then spoke up to Michael. "They exiled her," the man explained, "she had enough time to get some basic leather shit but they shot her with an arrow, right in the side." With that the man slapped his ribs several times and then went on, "so I decided to see my ass out and I took a few friends too-" he suddenly stopped.

"What?" Michael asked and he saw that the man was looking out into the ocean. He also seemed to be closing his eyes again and again like there was something he wasn't sure he was really seeing. "What's wrong?" Michael tried again but the man seemed to be distracted by something out in the sea, looking out towards it Michael saw nothing but the man was opening and closing his mouth.

"Don't you see it?" the man tried, before Michael could say anything the man had already dropped the glass bottle and went out into the cold night surf. In sheer shock Michael watched as the man quickly kicked off his boots and started to trudge into the ocean as fast as he could. Michael almost stepped out into the ocean to pull the man back but the drunken man shouted something back that seemed to be very malevolent; "stay away from Grimdale!"

"What do you mean?" Michael called out to the man, "what's Grimdale?"

"Stay away from Grimdale!" the man shouted again, "if you see the Black Hand, run!" By then the man was already swimming out to the horizon and was passing out of hearing.

Taking a few steps back Michael almost tripped on the bottle that the man had dropped. Picking it up Michael turned it over and started to walk back up the beach and away from the water. With his back to the water Michael looked at the reflective glass and saw that a slightly crumpled label was on the bottle which read: NMTC.

Then he saw something. In the reflection of the glass Michael saw the sea behind him and also a strange black shape moving through the water. The dark shape was very slowly moving, like a dismal mist on the waters and it was in the form of a ship, gaunt and ruined floating through the ocean. Dropping the bottle in shock Michael twisted back around and saw nothing, just a blank horizon.

Casting the final bottle in the ocean to follow its previous owner Michael continued towards the east. As he made his way forward the moon reached the center of the sky and Michael decided to move just a bit more then set down and sleep for the night. Sighing he tried to empty his mind of the man but one question kept bugging his mind.

If the Black Hand is dangerous, why is it in his backpack?

**A/N: That weird but with the ship for those who don't know is based off the Ghost Ship in MineZ. It constantly moves and it is a real thing. It probably won't play much of a role in this series though.**


	3. Chapter Three: End of the Night, Part 1

**A/N: Here we are again. And to answer FlyingDerpSquid, you can just give me some OCs and the ones I feel will work I'll put in. I'm gonna need a really big cast so, yeah go ahead and give me some OCs if you please.**

**No need for a "Things to Remember" but things to get a bit weird in this chapter.**

Michael looked up into the dark night sky. The moon still seemed hooked onto its spot in the middle of the sky and the stars were glistening. Sighing Michael finally decided to rest and sat down on the strange coast. He had noticed it after leaving the spot where the man had dived into the sea but the grasslands of the forest were now actually stretching over right next to the actual gray waters. Staring at the moon Michael let out a breath, day one and things were already so complicated.

Dropping down he unslung his backpack and used it as a pillow. Before completely settling down Michael took two items out of his backpack, the spherical radio and the strange paper with the Black Hand printed on it. Flipping the radio on again Michael noticed that the smooth glass like surface almost seemed to glow as static came out of the radio. Now resting back on his backpack Michael looked tried the radio but there seemed to be no signal; after searching the radio, however, he spotted that on its bottom was a similar circle that said: NMTC.

Yawning, Michael flipped the radio off and let it roll away a few inches before turning over with the Black Hand paper clasped in his hand. Once he stopped moving Michael quickly sank into sleep as the night continued on. Taking in a few heavy breathes he let his eyes flutter close as he very gently flipped the radio on and off listening for everything, but nothing but static came through. Finally Michael started to feel the world melt away; a few times it felt like he was falling but keeping still, he finally managed to go to sleep.

Sleep, he found, was not so much better than real life…

_Michael opened his eyes. Things were off, for one he was in a strange hallway that tunneled into darkness, and second everything appeared to be blurry. Standing up Michael looked down the hallway. To the right there was nothing but darkness. Looking to the left he saw nothing but darkness. Looking right again he saw a strange door standing at the end of the hallway, it was more of a blank wall encrusted with symbols of orbs._

_ Looking up he saw that a sign was posted above the door, in bold letters it read: _BYESFORD LAB_. Stepping forward he felt the floor underneath him click and sink. Caught off guard, Michael took a few startled steps backwards as the strange dead-end of the hallway was suddenly slide aside and showed a bright light shining through. Not knowing what to do Michael took a step forward but then found himself inside a strange lab, behind him was no sign of a door._

_ Scanning the whole lab, Michael saw that a white light seemed to line his vision and when he closed his eyes to make it go away. Upon opening his eyes Michael saw that a very tall man was standing over him, a small scar went over his left eye and he had a large yellow smile on his lips. He was wearing a lab coat and when Michael stepped back he saw on the top of the coat was a small black hand print with the caption: "THE BLACK HAND" printed on it._

_ "Shhhh," the man said and raised a thick finger up to his lips, "sick get might you" he man warned, speaking backwards. "Sick already I'm," the man continued and then he disappeared._

_ Taking a few steps forward Michael suddenly heard a large amount of tapping coming from deeper in the lab. Stepping into the lab Michael saw that he was surrounded by glass walls looking into small chambers; finally he turned a corner and saw a small room full of computers. The tapping sound was coming from a man typing away at the only computer that was turned on. _

_ He was hunched over the keyboard and when Michael drew closer he could see the man was typing the same four letters into the computer again and again. When he finally seemed to notice Michael, he straightened his back and stopped his endless typing and slowly turned around in the chair. Whoever he was he had very strange mole like features and had very strange tanned skin and had a wild mop of black hair, he smiled at Michael and put his hand on his lap._

_ "_You're a pretty special guy," _the man smiled at him. Now, Michael could see that the name: _HENRY_ was printed on a name tag in very large letters. _"You know that right Michael?_" the man said with a secretive smile of small white teeth, "_now turn around_" the man said and went back to typing_ NMTC _into the computer again and again._

_ Michael turned around and saw the instead of the lab there was a forest behind him. Turning back around Michael could see that the forest continued behind him like the lab had never existed. He looked up into the sky and saw that the sky was completely dark and the few stars left were shinning bright red. Coughing he suddenly felt his head bend down to look at forest around him, something was moving around them._

_ "_You're special…_"_

_ "_Follow the path…_"_

_ "_The Black Hand…_"_

_ Whispers seemed to fill the air as Michael twisted around and around and around as black shadows seemed to twist through the trees. Almost falling over himself Michael looked into the forest and could see a tall shadow resting amongst the trees. It walked forward and it took the figure of a man dressed in black and as it came forward the whispers seemed to become louder. _

_ In one black gloved hand the man in black held out a scrap of parchment with harsh letters scratched on in red ink. The words read: "_Find the Black Hand"_ and then the man in black walked backwards into the forest. A hissing sound filled the air and then the dream started to fall apart. Slipping into the black void Michael kicked his way to the surface, he had to get out…_

Michael woke to the sound of quiet footsteps and hushed voices. Standing up he pulled the rustic sword from the loop on his backpack but he was then forced back down by a strong dark hand. Forced down, Michael craned his head upwards to see his attackers but saw that the night shade was blocking their faces. There seemed to be two of them however, one with something that looked like a bow and arrow and the other with a sleek iron sword.

"Guy's got shit," the first shadow said to the second.

"I know, must've woken up a day or two ago," the second one whispered, "should we kill him?"

"Wait…" the first shadow said and Michael felt the parchment of the Black Hand get ripped from his hand, "what's this?"

"No…," the second bandit said and he started to back away. The first bandit also seemed to copy his partner's movements and let the parchment, and the rest of Michael's stuff, fall to the ground. "How is that even possible?" the second bandit coughed, but by then the two dark shadows had already slipped back into the forest.

Michael stood back up and looked around. The several items he had stored in his backpack had been strewn about on the small stretch of coastline. Picking up the parchment Michael looked around, the rustic sword had been snapped, most off the bandages had been dumped in the water, and most of the freshwater in his bottle was leaking out. Quickly snapping the cap back on Michael dropped it into backpack along with what could be salvaged from the bandages.

"Shit…" Michael said to himself and ran his hand through his hair, "what am I going to do now?"

He found an answer when a shadow lurched out of the forest straight at him.

**A/N: Sorry if things seemed awkward in this chapter, was writing this at an odd time. Still though I hope you enjoyed and yes the dream will be explained later on, very later on. So… remember to give OCs if you feel up to it and remember to review!**


	4. Chapter Three: End of the Night, Part 2

**A/N: Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet! So things are getting a bit stranger and we are diving deeper into the mystery but trust me every question will be answered in the story itself. Without further ado, Chapter 3 Part 2!**

The shadow staggered from the dark tree branches. As soon as it lurched onto the beach Michael could smell decay on the figure that was human shape. Bending up its head Michael saw the ghastly stare of a pale human face with twisted brown hair looking at him, the human seemed to observe him before sprinting forward with his hands outstretched. A strange grunt rose from the man's throat as it barreled towards Michael and he felt the air catch in his lungs.

Not knowing what to do Michael quickly staggered away from the man who rushed right by him and tripped over on the ground. Without even pausing from hitting the ground spread eagle the man clambered up again and looked around for Michael. There seemed to be something off with the man but Michael was too busy trying to dodge the man's outstretching hands. Dodging the man's attack again Michael stepped behind the man and wrapped his arm around the man's neck. On pure instinct he yanked his arm up and after a soft crack from the man the body collapsed onto the ground.

Wide eyed at what he had done Michael took a few steps back. Falling over he saw that the deranged man had dropped a small amount of tools but Michael was too much in shock to care or notice. Letting out a few startled grasp he watched as the body seemed to fidget on the ground and finally seemed to roll down into the night surf. Dropping to the ground Michael watched as the surf watched forward, covered the body, and then sucked it into the ocean, completely gone.

Not knowing what to do Michael sat alone on the beach as the tide washed back out towards the horizon. By the time he actually felt like getting up the moon was already turning the west into a haze of silver. Coughing as the early morning surf rolled over the beach Michael stumbled up with his legs swaying from his long period of sitting. He had just killed someone, he had just killed someone, he had just killed someone… the thought raced through his head again and again but it never seemed to register.

Shaking his head and letting out a few withered exhales Michael observed what the man had dropped after exiting the forest. It seemed that there was a sturdy sword, a fresh supply of bandages, and a small collection of three apples. Feeling guilty, Michael looked around half expecting to see a police officer jump from the bushes to grab him, but then he finally dropped the new tokens into his backpack. Looking at the swell of the ocean Michael tried to forget about the man that had come at him.

Taking a deep breath Michael stood up and continued forward. He could see that the strange beach seemed to form into a peninsula in front of him and he headed towards it. While journey into the east Michael looked up into the night sky to see the stars that were already paling as dawn approached. He still felt grim but when the night ended and dawn blossomed from the east, Michael knew he would feel better and maybe the three people he had met would fade out of his mind.

Nearing the peninsula Michael swung the backpack over his shoulder and opened the flap and reached inside. Pulling out his water bottle half filled with fresh water Michael saw that the slip of parchment with the Black Hand printed on it was still there. He didn't remember placing it there but he decided to not question it as he took a long swig of chilled water. Looking inside Michael also spotted the apples but decided to wait for dawn which was in about an hour.

Continuing, Michael finally reached the beginning of the peninsula and saw that the forest was now stretched in front of him. Looking ahead of him Michael could see that in the east the sky was already fading into a gray, dawn would be coming soon. The forest wouldn't be too dangerous when it's so near dawn, Michael decided and started to walk towards the first row of trees. Yawning Michael crossed into the pine forest and found that once inside it seemed a whole lot darker.

Following the graying sky that pointed east Michael made his way through the forest. Occasionally stepping over large well-fed roots and stepping away from gnarled tree trunks Michael journeyed forward. As he stepped around one tree Michael could see something off posted on a tree trunk, straying off the small path Michael walked over to the tree and looked at the sign. It was very simple but it seemed very ominous since it seemed to be the only thing for miles.

Just off the mental path Michael had plotted through the small stretch of forest was a sign that had two symbols printed on them. The first was a black handprint, and the other was a red arrow that pointed deeper into the forest. Taking out the parchment from his backpack Michael compared the two and saw that, oddly enough, they seemed to be exact copies. Whatever the Black Hand is, Michael found, it was somewhere deeper in the forest.

Shaking his head Michael went back to the small mental path he had devised and after choosing east he went on with his journey. About half way through his course, however, something happened.

He heard it… He heard whispering- small little rushed voice circling him. Scanning the pine trees around him Michael could almost see small dark shadows passing by, ducking in and out again. Something was going to happen, Michael knew that and as the small voices came closer in he could almost hear what they were saying. Suddenly Michael felt himself turn over to face the north, into the heart of the forest and he could see a small clearing stretching far in front of him.

Sucking in a harsh breath he could see the outline of a man. The outline was easily 6'5 perhaps even taller; he also saw the black shadow in the forest seemed to be staring at him with an invisible face. Where the whispers coming from it? Michael wondered and he saw the black outline now leaned its head and seemed to be staring at Michael. The actual outline terrified Michael, a very tall and thin man wearing a heavy black overcoat and fedora, and even with the small light of pre-dawn the man's face was a missing chunk of darkness.

Michael started to take a few steps over towards the man when suddenly the whispers almost seemed to explode in his ears. Tumbling over Michael crashed on the ground and felt his forehead smash against an exposed root. Seeing a brief image of wheeling stars Michael looked up and saw that the man in black was already steeping away. Blinking Michael saw that the figure and whispers were gone.

Taking a few shaky breathes Michael staggered up. Deciding to head back to the coast he started to take a small trek south when he heard something behind him. Looking behind him he saw the open field in the middle of the forest again, something was standing in it but it wasn't the man in black. Michael saw that this figure was missing large chunks of skin and blood was already dribbling off of it, the smell of decay came over to Michael as he recognized the figure.

It was Ana, the woman who had been killed by the Black Hand, the same woman he had ran into only a few hours before. She was still dead of course, the arrow in her side proved that, but he looked at it and it looked at him. It was still dark but Michael could see her clearly, she was dead but still looking at him. He started to back away.

By the time Michael had made a small distance between him and Ana, Michael sprinted towards the coast. Not even minding the low hanging branches that were sweeping across his face and leaving small scratches he ran. Darting through the forest Michael could soon hear the crashing of waves, finally jumping from the forest Michael hurtled onto the beach and splashed into the receding waters.

Picking himself up Michael calmed himself down. Looking up into the sky he could see that the actual sunrise was still a long ways away. Running a hand through his hair Michael sat down on the beach, letting the few waves that rolled in to the slide and slip around his feet. He put the backpack down beside himself and pulled out the few things he had. Michael knew he wasn't going to move from his spot until the sun was well above the horizon.

He looked at the parchment with the Black Hand on it and sighing he then pulled out his radio. Switching it on he listened into it and heard nothing but static. Trying once again he spoke into it, "hello? Is anyone there?" but after a few minutes of hearing nothing Michael decided to turn it off. Before he could though he remembered something, on the south pole of the spherical radio was the small circle that read NMTC; he felt that it actually stood out a centimeter.

Getting an idea he twisted it and he listened to the static change. He could change channels! Michael realized and he started to speak into the radio once again. "Hello? Hello is anyone there? Please respond!" he almost shouted into the radio, standing up he paced his small section of the beach as he waited for something to come from the static.

For a few seconds the static garbled until he could hear something. "Yes, hello? Who is this?" a voice asked and Michael heard blood pound in his ears, he had found someone who was alive and sane!

"This is- this is Michael!" Michael hurriedly shouted into the radio, "who are you? Where are you?"

"This is Kevin, I'm in Romero-" but suddenly the speech garbled back into static. Cursing Michael tried to change channels again when he felt the NMTC button start to slide down. Before he could press it down completely something slammed into his back

Falling over, Michael watched as the radio slipped down the beach. Turning over he saw his attacker, it was Ana with a mixture of blood and foam coming from between her teeth. Bring up a hand Michael held her neck and tried to chock her, this only seemed to stall her for a few seconds but then she went back to trying to bite him. Taking a leap of faith Michael picked her off as best he could and yanked the sword from the backpack loop.

Just as the walking dead was about rip him apart Michael held the sword at his side and swung it forward where it broke through her chest. Ana looked at him confused but then a strange weak smile came over her face. As the sword dropped from her chest she staggered into the surf with something that seemed like gratitude. Finally with a smile on her lips Ana fell into the sea where a wave covered her with ocean spray, and then she disappeared.

Dropping down Michael cleaned off his sword and remembered the radio. Cursing he went over to where the radio had dropped and saw it had landed on an exposed stone and had cracked into a million pieces. Scooping them into a pile Michael could hear a few last whines of static as sparks flew from the cluster.

Yelling out a million curses that the one person he had found he had no way of finding again Michael stood up and kicked the fragments into the sea. Not knowing what to do Michael was almost hoping for a sign.

From behind him Michael heard the sound of whirling and a heavy mechanical clunk. Swinging around he looked into the forest and saw that a thick beam of white light was coming from between the trees. The beam was focused on Michael exactly and was the brightest light he had ever seen.

He found his sign.

**A/N: Cliffhanger! And guess what! You're gonna have to wait two more episodes to find out what happens! The next couple chapters will be focused on another character! Still though thanks for the people who reviewed and for the OCs! Oh and minor spoiler: Kevin will be mentioned again in the story. So continue reviewing, its helping a lot and I'll see you in the next chapter. **


	5. Chapter Four: Thanatophobia

**A/N: Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet! So, last we left out we had a scene based off this:**

watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-N7KOGnATgM

**Once you watch it you'll understand what the light thing was based off of. So anyways, let's take a break from Michael and focus on the other main character in my work! So that will be what the next few chapters will be about and later on you may notice some similar things (once you read the later chapters you'll understand)**

**Let's go on! Read on brave traveler…**

He had been awake for two minutes. He had opened his eyes to see he was sitting on the top of a short cliff with his feet dangling down towards the bottom of the cliff which was the sea constantly churning. Instantly he had backed away from the cliff and felt himself sit down on the rough sword that was behind him. Trying to stand he felt his knees turn to jelly and he tumbled back down, grabbing the sword he used it as a cane as he tried to steady himself.

In the middle of keeping himself from falling on the ground he heard the sound of footsteps coming from the forest before him. There was a man standing there looking at him, it seemed that he had been running through the forest. Letting out a few hacking coughs he steadied himself and looked at the man who had come out of the forest. It took him a few minutes to realize that the man was shaking his head and was trying to say something to him.

The man was obese and the several chins he had were shaking as he shouted something at the man who had waken on the cliff. Finally after shaking his head the man on the cliff heard what was being said, "we have to go!" the man from the forest shouted, "there's bandits coming! Run!" the man shouted as he started to run again. Several rolls of fat moved in his walk as he started to make his way quickly towards the man who had just woken up.

"Bandits?" the man who had just woken asked, he looked up to the obese man for help but saw that the man had gone wide eyed. From out of the large slab of his chest poked the sharp head of an arrow head stained crimson. The obese man fingered the red arrowhead and brought a red stained palm up to his face, muttering something the man then fell over. In horror the remaining man could see the tail of an arrow sticking clear from the obese man's back.

The horror grew when the man heard another twang come from between the dark forest trees and felt the harsh wind of an arrow rip past his hair. Staggering back the man almost stumbled off the cliff and into the sea below but then started to move away as another arrow ripped past and shot through the space he had been in. Running he could still here the snap of bows and the sound of arrows coming through the air, even though he had been awake for three minutes his heart was already pounding.

Running down the crest of the cliff, the man eventually found himself on the beach that stretched away from the cliff. He looked into the forest that was north of the beach and almost waited for an arrow to spring out and punch its way through his guts. Taking in several breaths the man looked into the forest again and saw that there was nothing. Letting the pounding of blood in his ears die away the man sighed and after several minutes of standing realized that the "bandits" had gone away.

Sitting down in the grass that stretched into the sea the man looked at what he had woken up with. There was the sword first off that seemed to fit into a strange loop placed on the backpack he had strapped on. The man also saw that he had a heavy leather chest plate on that matched a pair of leather boots he had. Massaging his temples, the man unslung the backpack and opened it to see what was inside; he had been dumped into quite the situation.

Opening up the top flap on the backpack the man saw there was a slip of parchment plastered on the inside of the flap. Written in strange red words was: BENJAMIN. Slightly startled the man drew back, was this his name? Thinking for a few minutes he took it and then flipped the entire backpack upside down to see what he had. Benjamin could see that he had a plastic water bottle with the letters NMTC printed on the label; it was full to the brim with clear water. There was also a very strange radio along with a strange slip of parchment with a strange black hand printed on it.

For several minutes Benjamin looked at the black hand in wonder, after observing it he carefully placed it back as he then turned his attention to the radio. He saw that it was unlike any radio he had ever seen before; it was a perfect sphere with a strange black flaw on one side and a label with NMTC on the south pole. Placing his hand on the radio the man felt part of the glassy surface sink in and suddenly a large amount of static came from it.

Dropping it from pure surprise Benjamin listened to the static for a few minutes before gingerly picking it up. As he brought it up to his ear to try and hear anything that could be trying to come through the static he suddenly turned around. There was something that darted deeper in the woods, a shadow that quickly zoomed between two gnarled tree trunks; he paid no attention to it when he heard a voice suddenly blast through the radio, causing him to jump.

"_Hello?_" a voice came from the garbled static, for a minute there was a pause. "_Hello is anyone there?_" the voice asked again. Benjamin suddenly looked for some way to communicate with the man on the other side. Searching the entire surface of the radio Ben looked for some way of trying to broadcast himself when something slammed into him.

For some reason Ben had woken up just about when it was twilight, when his worst fear slammed into his back it was already dark which made things absolutely perfect. Letting out a scream he felt something writhe on him, and looked up to see an eyeless stare. Some kind of rotting eyeless man was on top of him, screaming again Ben kicked at the man's torso which let out two weak snaps as several weak, rotten bones snapped into fragments.

With bone shards ripping through the creature's insides it caused it to squirm away from Ben. Heaving out a breath Ben kicked it away and took the time to scoop up the sword he had dropped on the ground. Awkwardly picking it up Ben readied himself and when the dead thing finally seemed to notice him again and when it charged he swung forward. The blade ripped through the thing's chest and a wet snap came from the buckling ribs.

Feeling absolutely disgusted, Ben swayed and when the thing collapsed on the ground he fell to his knees and let his previous meal come out. Dry heaving he shook his head and staggered up feeling numb, whatever he has just killed it was not human- the missing eyes showed that- it seemed to already be dead. However the thought he had killed something that seemed to have been human at one point was weighing on his mind, cleaning his sword on the ground Benjamin looked around.

He could see, not so far away, the ruined remains of his radio. Like a man not so far away it had landed on an exposed stone in the ground and had shattered. Taking a few steps towards it, Ben could see a small wisp of smoke was coming from it as static blared out of it. Crinkling his brow Benjamin started to take a few steps away and hooked the sword in the loop on his backpack.

In the next hours he would find another radio, a special radio. But now he didn't know it and so he looked around for something. The only thought that came to him was to go into the woods; the sun was already sinking and was now nothing but a smear of purple. As he slipped through the first rows of trees Ben knew it was going to be a long night.

**A/N: Sorry for the great delay and sorry for things being awkward in this chapter. Some personal stuff has just been going around but I'm back! And since there was such a delay the next chapter should also be posted sometime today or early tomorrow! And remember the voice Ben heard through his radio, check back with the beginning of the very first chapter if you want to know what that was all about. Till next time!**


	6. Chapter Five: Dusk Till Dawn, Part 1

**A/N: Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet! So basically, continuing with Ben! Basically, this is gonna be set at the same time Michael's story is going on so you might see some familiar faces. And btw, "Worst Cooks in America" is surprisingly addictive… I have no life… Just kidding, so here we go!**

**Oh and I've noticed that it won't let me link videos. Sorry! **

Ben listened to the sound of his boots on the road. He walked with his hands stuffed in his pockets as he made his way down the road he had found cutting through the forest. He had been walking through the pine forest when he saw the last glimmers of sunlight fade from the sky above him, when the moon was casting it silver glow he had spotted it. It almost seemed to be glimmering from the dark ground around it as the night ticked on far above him.

With his hands in his pockets Ben made his way down the road. As he casually made his way down the road the thought of the assault he had earlier faded from his mind as he began to think more about himself. He had a long mop of black hair on his head that stretched down to his eyebrows; it almost seemed to cover his dark face. Ben was very tall and seemed to be deeply tanned even though his memory of getting the tan was far from him.

Letting out a few sighs Ben looked down the road which was a ruined frame of stone bricks locking a path of gravel inside; when he looked down the road he almost jumped backwards. At the very end of the road almost floating in the silvery moonlight was a very tall figure clad in black; it appeared to be a man. The figure was very far down the road and seemed to be nothing but a black outline against the forest behind him; the man in black looked back at Ben.

Even though Ben was far away from the other man he thought the man in black almost seemed to be startled. He did see the dark space that was the man's head seemed to turn like he was weighing something in his mind. When Ben started to make a few steps closer to the man in black he saw that the man was already walking away. He would've called out to the man but something told him that noise would attract… something; so he sprinted down the road.

He saw the man in black on the turn on the road, when he walked away he seemed to vanish leaving an object left sitting in the gravel. Feeling the cold night air whip his face and toss back his hair Ben looked at the object and saw what it was. Sitting in the gravel was a small radio just like the one Ben had lost when he woke up. Upon reaching the turn Ben looked down the long stretch of road and saw that there was no sign of the man in black, he must've left this Ben decided.

Scooping up the radio Ben looked it over in his hands. It seemed to be very much like his old radio but upon inspecting it he could see several strange things. For one, on the southern pole of the radio the small label that usually read NMTC was replaced with a large button that had a black handprint on it. He also saw that the black flaw that appeared on his previous radio seemed to be expanded on this radio, much more defined. Puzzled, Benjamin took the radio and dropped it into his backpack and then continued down the road.

So he continued his journey down the road. The stretch of gravel and stone seemed to stretch off forever into the night, and so Benjamin continued down it, not knowing where it would lead. Eventually however in the faint glow of the moonlight Ben could see something, something standing at the side of the road far down the path. Running as fast as he can towards it Ben could see it was actually a pillar of bricks with a strange signs posted on it, a sign that read something.

Making his way to it he saw that there were three things on the sign, with one seemingly seared on to the wooden face. The name "Grimdale" was printed on the sign and was over an arrow that pointed to the road. But as Ben could see, on the corner of the sign was a small burn mark that was the stamp of a black handprint that had the caption: "the Black Hand." Crinkling his brow Ben looked at the sign and then pulled two items out of his backpack.

He pulled out the radio first and saw that the strange black handprint that was on the sign was the exact same as the one printed on the radio. Raising an eyebrow Ben also looked at the strange parchment he had woken up with and looked at the sign again and his radio and could see the handprint was indeed the symbol for whatever the Black Hand was. Placing the items back in the ancient backpack, Ben almost didn't hear the fast paced running that was barreling down the road.

Having a brief flashback to the assault the dead man had given him; Ben jumped away from the road and stumbled through the underbrush. Scurrying to a tree Ben had the memory once again of that thing, whatever that thing as trying to tear him apart and hurriedly he ducked behind the nearest tree. Crouching between two roots, Ben looked over to the road and saw a dark figure stumbling down the road; the figure was letting out heavy pants as it then collapsed on the road.

Not moving from his spot Ben watched as the shape picked itself up and in the glow of the moon he could see the figure in plain sight. Watching, he could see it bending over to scoop up a leather helmet that had fallen on the ground, the shape also seemed to have very long brown hair. Letting out several painful breaths the figure straightened up and laid a hand on its side, in the faint light he could see that sprouting from the side of the shape was an arrow.

Stumbling, the figure (which Ben could see was a woman) leaned up against a tree on the opposite side of the road and had a hand on the arrow neck sprouting from her ribs. Breaking it she let out a small weak cry and threw the tail end of the arrow on the ground, still leaving the arrow head inside herself, the woman staggered back on the road. Falling over, the figure let the backpack she had strapped on her shoulders fall on the road with a thud.

The woman with the broken arrow in her side started to stagger away. Ben could also see three large cuts on the side of her arm, ripping through the sleeve. The woman coughed out a series of wheezing breaths and then turned into the forest, as she started to make her way through the trees Ben realized she would be heading to the beach. Why she would go to the beach, Ben didn't know but she had left behind her backpack and as soon as she vanished into the forest Ben emerged from his hiding place.

Stepping on the road Ben stepped over to the backpack and held it up. Opening it, he peered down and saw that it was filled with three things. There was a small water bottle, a loaf of bread, and a strange slip of folded up parchment. A radio did seem to be missing from her backpack, perhaps she took it with her Ben considered. Feeling ever so slightly guilty he took the loaf of bread and dropped it in his own backpack, looking around Ben then dropped the backpack at the trunk of a tree.

Where ever she was going, Ben thought to himself; he then looked at the parchment the woman had in her backpack. It was exactly like the slip of paper Ben had found in his backpack; the same curly border around it, the stamp of the Black Hand, but something was different about the letters. He could see below the Black Hand in harsh red letters was: ANA; looking up at the spot where the woman had staggered off Ben thought to himself, was that Ana?

Crumpling the paper, Ben threw it near the backpack and continued on down the road. He was about fourteen feet down the road when he felt a chill run up his spine. He became aware that the hairs on the back of his neck were now up and he froze dead in his spot. Realizing he wasn't breathing, Ben took in a shallow breath and drew his sword from the loop on his backpack.

Behind him Ben could hear it. Whispering, whispering voice constantly rippling behind him. Voices so soft they almost seemed to fade into the still night air. Voices spoke to him from far behind saying things like "_our master_" "_the man named Michael_" "_the Black Hand closes_", everything else seemed to fade away as he felt something standing behind him. Finally mustering enough courage to turn around Ben saw that it appeared nothing had change.

But, the backpack he had left by the tree was now moved. It was in the middle of the road and the small crumpled up paper was now smoothed and sticking out from the opening flap of the backpack. Something had moved it, Ben realized, something was on the road and taking a few steps backwards Ben started to think that following the road wasn't the best idea. Taking in a few panicked breaths Ben could hear more voices floating in the air around him, quickly twitching his head back and forth Ben dove into the forest.

Walking past the first few rows of tree Ben felt the prickles on the back of his neck fade as he marched towards the coast. He didn't put his sword back however, he kept it drawn. Something was out there, something was out there, something was out- the thought boiled in his head as he slipped away. It defiantly was going to be a long night...

**A/N: A wild Ana has appeared! Yep here are those familiar faces! Remember to drop a review and an OC; once the characters make their way to Grimdale the OCs will start appearing don't worry.** **Thanks for reading and I will see you next time!**


	7. Chapter Five: Dusk Till Dawn, Part 2

**A/N: Welcome back to my corner of the Internet! Still focused on Ben at the moment, even though you may see some more familiar faces! And a note, depending on who each chapter is about they could be Ben-centric, or Michael-centric, or [Insert Character Name Here]-centric. So, remember that!**

**Things to Remember:**

**The drunken man with the split leather chest plate**

**The two bandits that tried to rob Michael**

_(=I=)_

Ben didn't realize he had been stalked until he had been slammed into a tree. Staggering away he felt the same force pick at his feet until he crashed over and felt his forehead connect with an exposed tree root. Seeing a flash of white Ben kicked into his clouded vision until he felt his foot hit something that growled at him. Kicking at it again as a cloud sat in front of his vision Ben could hear a wet snap come from the thing that was assaulting him.

The member of the walking dead collapsed on the ground as Ben felt blindly for his sword. Eventually he did find something even though it wasn't the sword. He found that he had grasped the radio, as his vision cleared Ben could see several other items had spilled from his backpack, clasping the strange radio he pulled it up. Not knowing what to do, Ben watched as the creature in front of him staggered up and looked at him with glassy eyes.

Almost on accident Ben felt his finger slide over the button on the bottom of the radio; he felt the entire button sink slightly and suddenly a great amount of sound came from the strange radio. From the depths of the thing came a slightly whirling sound and suddenly the entire surface of the radio emitted a bright blue light that seared the night. An unearthly cry came from the creature and it covered what remained of its eyes with what remained of its hands.

Taking this time to run away, Ben started to run as fast as he could. Almost sprinting, Ben dodged a few gnarled tree trunks as he stumbled through the forest, not knowing where he was going and not exactly caring. Eventually he felt a stray root catch his foot and letting out a sharp cry Ben stumbled and then crashed on the ground once again. He was about to stand up to continue his flight when he was stopped by the sound of footsteps crushing underbrush.

Pausing on the ground Ben looked up at whatever was coming through the forest. He heard the quick footsteps fade into a gently walking and saw a figure making its way towards him. Keeping as still as he could Ben watched silently and almost without breathing as a dark outline stumbled and stopped a few feet away from him. Still holding his breath Ben could see that the dark outline was a man; it was only a miracle that the man couldn't see him.

Allowing a single shaky breath, Ben could see that the man, unlike Ana, had only a leather chest plate on as armor that was split down the middle. Pulling a shaky hand through his hair the man with the leather chest plate unslung his backpack over his shoulder and leaned against the gnarled trunk of a tree. After searching the back for something he pulled it out and revealed a small glass bottle of green liquid that he too into his hands as he let the backpack drop to the ground.

Quickly taking the cork out of the bottle the man let it drop to the ground as he brought the neck of the bottle up to his lips. Quickly sucking in a large amount of the drink he let out a few coughs and hiccupped as he stood up again. Shaking his head the man took another drink from the bottle and started towards the coast. "Only got three of them," he muttered to himself as he started through the trees with his backpack in hand. Just before the man left completely he took another drink and muttered to himself, "only a few more drinks," but the next swig was already down his throat.

Waiting a few minutes in the darkness, Ben started to take in breaths again as he straightened up. Looking at the direction the man had been going Ben pondered about where he should be going. He could follow the man, there would at least be that man he could possibly meet again but there was the coast and something told him that he couldn't go to the coast, not yet. Cracking his fingers Ben then picked up his sword and started through the forest, not exactly picking any direction.

Whilst walking Ben also took the strange radio out once again and looked over it. There was the strange black split that seemed to be on the radio, the strange Black Hand button on the radio's south pole, but there was also something on the north pole. Imprinted on it was a golden orb and a small image of red fire, Ben stared at it trying to decide whether or not the orb was in the fire or the fire was in the orb. There was something special about it, Ben knew it but he had no idea what it meant.

Shaking his head he turned on the radio again and this time Ben actually got something. He heard in a very sudden surprise: "_you can suck it Zachery! I'm not part of your frigging Guild!_" pausing Ben tried to respond back but found that the radio had no button for broadcasting, all he could do was listen. The voice, Ben suddenly remembered, that voice was the same as the man who had rushed past him in the forest, much more slurred now but the same.

Listening intently Ben then heard the sound of rushing air and a sudden splash, the man must've thrown it in water Ben thought to himself. Before the signal died completely Ben could hear a different voice questioning the drunken man, "_uh...,_" the voice said, there was a brief pause and then the same voice questioned, "_hello?_"

"_Some bloody idiot spilt hi-_" the voice of the drunken man cut out in a garble of static. Shaking his head Ben continued through the forest alone as the moon rose up into the sky above him. Ben tried the radio several more times as he stumbled through the forest, he felt his eyelids sink down until he almost felt like falling over.

Letting out a yawn Ben sat himself down between two gnarled roots that curled out from the ground. Looking up past the trees Ben could see the dark night sky, shinning with stars like diamonds set on black silk; the moon itself was hung in the very middle, ebbing out silver light. As he settled into something that may have been considered comfortable Ben let his eyes close as he listened to the night. There was no insects buzzing, no wolves howling, nothing but the beat of the ocean?

Before slipping entirely into sleep Ben thought for a moment that he must be very close to the shore now, he could hear the waves crashing into the shore. Too tired to really care Ben slipped into a deep sleep next to the tree trunk as the night slowly passed above him as another man slept on the shore not so far away.

_(=I=)_

_Must be asleep by now, the Man in Black thought to himself. He drifted from behind the tree, not really moving his feet but letting himself be guided by whatever force was pulling him along. Really, the Man in Black considered he, himself, should be dead but he had "work to do" as Henry had put it. Shaking his head the Man in Black found himself standing in front of that familiar face, fast asleep at the base of the tree trunk; unbelievable, the Man in Black thought to himself._

_ Exhaling the Man in Black then found that he had a lantern in his right hand. The lantern was a very small and rustic tin one with filthy glass circling a small light. While the small flame inside the lantern was off, when the Man in Black held up the lantern the flame sparked into life and the higher he held it the stronger the light became. Observing the sleeping Ben the Man in Black shook his head again, "work to do" he quoted Henry again._

_ Suddenly the forest around him was gone, he was already moving._

_(=I=)_

**A/N: Sorry for the delay guys, social life has been really crushing as of late so updates may only trickle by. But enough about my sucky life how about the story! Many of you (by that I mean all of you) are probably wondering what the whole Man in Black POV thing was about, why he was thinking about someone named Henry and why he should be dead. Don't worry that'll be answered in like Chapter… 40. Till next time!**


	8. Chapter Six: Caput Lupinum

**A/N: Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet! So another dream state thing! Good luck understanding it! So yeah continue on brave reader! (Oh, and the further along we get the longer the chapters will get, so good luck)**

**Things to Remember:**

**The man named Henry that appeared in Michael's dream**

**The two bandits that attacked Michael**

_(=I=)_

_Ben opened his eyes and saw that he was looking into blackness. Looking up into what he at least thought was up he saw that the darkness continued upwards, if there was anything up there. Blinking he saw a sky full of red stars, blinking again he saw that it was an empty blackness again. Putting his gaze down Ben saw he was in a forest, it was a different one he had slept in but it was similar; it was somehow dry and the slamming of the ocean waves was nowhere to be found._

_ Taking in shallow breathes Ben got up and saw that the tree closest to him had something carved into the gnarled surface. An orb was scrawled around a twisted knot in the tree, the orb seemed to be either consumed with a sketch of flames or holding the flames. Staring at it for several minutes Ben looked behind himself as he heard something that sounded like whispering. Looking around the entire forest Ben could almost feel the darkness pushing him in, the walls were cracking…_

_ Covering his eyes Ben found the image of a burning flame blazing in his mind, burning away at him as he knelt down to the ground and seemed to be out from under him. Not wanting to open his eyes Ben tried to wake up, to try and kick his way up and out of the insane sleep when suddenly a large piecing golden light flared through his eyelids. Fluttering his eyes open Ben could see he was still trapped in the dark forest but he could see something… amazing._

_ Past a line of trees was a tall spire, piecing the night sky like a lynchpin of everything. The spire lead up high into the clouds and almost seemed to unwind into curling staffs that held an orb of light glowing in the night. The light gleamed across the forest and seemed to fill up the night sky like a sun burning above the clouds. The great spire broke into four smaller towers on each of its side and each of them seemed to be pulsing out light, it was something Ben had never seen before._

_ Ben almost jumped when he heard the click clacking of typing come out behind him. Twisting around he saw that there was a man hunched over a computer, typing in the same four letters into the computer. Surprised Ben looked behind himself and saw that behind him was a sterile white wall of a lab, in blocky red letters the word: BYESFORD was printed on the wall. Turning back to the man who was typing in the letters NMTC into the computer, Ben saw the man had turned to face him._

_ He could see that whoever he was he had a very odd and angular face that seemed to match that of a mole down to the small wet eyes that seemed to sparkle in the light that simply seemed to be in the room. The man smiled and showed very small white teeth that seemed to gleam against dark tanned skin. On the man's shirt there was a very large nametag which read: _Hello! My name is: HENRY. _Smiling at him the man gave a strange wave to Ben before speaking._

"How are you, Ben?"_ Henry asked as he leaned back in his chair. As Ben tried to answer he typed in NMTC several more times as Ben stammered a response._

_ "What is this?" Ben tried; the words seemed to come out in a jumble out of his mouth. Henry seemed to take a mental note and typed into the computer eight times before answering._

"You're a special guy, Benjamin,"_ he said and gave another strange smile, _"very important, almost as important as Michael"_ and with that his smiled widened almost unnaturally but it still seemed friendly…_

_ "What…?"_

_ "_Don't forget the Islands, Benjamin_," Henry smiled as he turned back to the computer and started typing as he seemed to think to himself. For a few seconds Ben pointed behind Ben before returning to his work without separating his eyes from the screen. Confused Ben turned around and instead of the dark forest behind him he could see a sheet of blackness, eternally dark and stretching into the far distance. Gasping Bent turned back around and saw the blackness continued in front of him, Henry or his computer seemed to be completely gone._

_ Now he was falling. Ben looked up and tried to kick his way out of the dream. Kicking he tried to break out of the dream but there was something holding him back. Falling over Ben suddenly looked down and saw that he was now looking at a glowing white sphere, it filled his vision and when he took a step towards it, the sphere glowed even brighter. Staggering back Ben watched as the sphere turned in the darkness and suddenly felt a strange splitting in his head._

_ A strange flame was growing in the orb; it seemed to fill the sphere and almost seemed to flare out in a few places. Taking a few steps backwards Ben watched as the strange vision moved closer. The further back he got the closer the orb moved until it seemed he could almost smell the burning flames. Smashing his eyes close Ben tumbled over and could feel himself falling, unaware he was actually doing it Ben tried to kick his way out of sleep, he knew he had to wake up now…_

_(=I=)_

"-the guy didn't even have anything on him, Randall" a voice said as it floated through the trees. Ben scanned his surroundings and could hear faint footsteps nearby, ever so slowly coming towards him.

"The thing that concerns me," the voice that belonged to Randall replied, "was that he had the Black Hand in his backpack. It looks like he woke up maybe earlier that day and he had that scroll! It looks like it even had his name under the symbol."  
"You could read that red shit under the Hand?" the voice responded as the two came closer.

"Obviously, I knew Zachery a while back, remember?" Randall responded. Whilst the two came closer Ben was moving away, he could gather that the two were bandits and they had already gotten someone else in the area. But when they mentioned the Black Hand, Ben found himself stopping and listening from behind the gnarled trunk of a tree.

"It read: 'Michael, a Stranger in a Strange Land' or something like that," Randall recited to his lackey. "If it has something more than your name then that means you're important. In fact it may be in our best interest to see if we can get that Michael to lead us to the Black Hand; it's the second greatest place on Earth. If we can get there then maybe we can-"

But Benjamin had already moved away, past the voices that seemed to float through the forest. Taking the strange radio out of his backpack Ben moved forward. He had to go to the shore, if that Michael person was still alive… He moved forward towards the southern shore as he pressed the strange Black Hand button on the south pole of the radio.

As he made his way through the trees Ben watched as he pressed down the button, the surface of the radio started to slow a faint blue light. What would happen, Ben thought, if he pressed the button down completely? Before he could do so there was a sudden burst of static from the radio, Ben could guess what that meant: someone nearby was using their radio. Pressing down a small switch on the side of the radio Ben intercepted the radio broadcast as a voice split through.

"_Hello? Hello is anyone there? Please respond!"_ Ben could hear the voice shout into the radio. Whoever this person was they were very close to him, the signal was coming in strong.

"_Yes, hello? Who is this?"_ answered a second voice, very faint but as Ben started to move towards the beach the signal became stronger, the radio user was VERY near.

"_This is- this is Michael! Who are you? Where are you?"_

"_This is Kevin, I'm in Romero-_"

Suddenly Ben found that the voices of Michael and Kevin had faded back into static. With no way to respond, Ben almost dropped the radio back into his backpack when he saw something in the forest ahead of him. It was the rotting figure of a woman, when Ben staggered forward black eyes whipped around and stared at him, and then the thing charged.

When the creature knocked into him Benjamin felt himself fall backwards, felt a tree trunk connect with his skull. Sinking down Ben looked up at his attacker, who seemed to be walking away from him. Confused and disoriented Ben staggered up and saw that the dead creature was walking towards the beach when it suddenly started to run towards someone on the beach.

Putting a hand on his head Ben felt around for the radio, he had to find it. Searching the ground he finally could feel something cold in the underbrush and picked up his radio. With it in hand Ben started to make his way towards the forest as a large amount of stars danced around his vision. Rubbing his temples Ben could hear a wild amount of shouting in front of him, he looked between a few tree trunks and could see a man kneeling in front of the broken shards of a radio, cursing at it.

Aiming the black flaw of the radio at the man Ben pressed down the Black Hand button, so far that it actually sank below the surface and let out a click. There was a massive amount of whirling from the object, like some machine deep inside the thing had been brought fully into life and suddenly there was a clunk. Out of the black flaw Ben could see a pillar of bright white light aim at the man on the beach who seemed to be looking for a sign.

Halfway between another curse, the man looked around and directly into the beam of light.

Ben had found a sign.

**A/N: And so the mystery of the beam of light in revealed! And what? You thought I was dead? Nope! I'm back and this time I have so much stuff to write about now. But, I'm gonna need some motivation so if you can just take maybe thirty seconds to leave a comment that would help so much. Thank you, in advance, and I will see you next time!**


	9. Chapter Seven: A Journey to Answers

**A/N: Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet! Things will be speeding up quite a lot now and the characters have finally met up! So, without further ado, here we go!**

_(=I=)_

"Who the hell are you?" Michael asked with wide eyes.

"Benjamin," Ben tried as he switched the radio off with a heavy rattle, Opening the backpack and dropping the radio inside Ben looked at Michael. "Who- who are you?" Ben asked as he watched Michael scramble for his sword, he took a few steps backwards and listened to the underbrush crunch under his feet. Raising his hands away from the sword still cast in its loop Ben looked at Michael as he, reluctantly, but his sword back into the loop.

"My name is Michael," Michael tried a small look of discomfort flashed across his face before it vanished. Feeling better about the whole situation Michael stepped forward, "so you know what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just all this-" Michael made a sweeping motion to everything around them. In the brightening light Michael could see the world become more defined. As dawn broke across the sky in a pink flood Michael felt the panic of the night fade away, in fact out of all the people Michael had meant this "Benjamin" seemed to be very trustworthy.

"I truthfully don't know," Ben explained and shrugged, "I woke up on the beach a while back about a day ago. I probably know as much as you do on everything." Pausing Ben then added, "but I did find something."

"What?"

"A road in the forest. It like a path or something. It lead to Grimdale or something like that, I saw it on a sign along the road," Ben then opened his backpack and pulled out the small parchment folded away there. Taking it out he presented Michael with the Black Hand and asked, "do you know what this is?"

For a few seconds Michael crinkled his brow at the paper, it was almost exactly like the parchment he had, except for the red scripture at the very bottom of the paper. Unlike Michael's paper the words at the bottom of Ben's were completely different and he could actually read it even though it was written in curvy letters. Reading it Michael felt the words form on his lips; it read in strange letters _Benjamin, the NOIR_, it was meaningless to Michael but maybe the Black Hand…?

"No," Michael said and shrugged, "but I do have my own thing with the Black Hand." Dragging out his own copy Michael held it up and Ben could see the strange red letters scrawled into the parchment. A sudden memory sparked in his mind as Ben remembered the two he had heard in the forest, talking about the man with the Black Hand.

"_Michael, a Stranger in a Strange Land_," Ben read out and he looked up to see Michael's startled face.

"Is that what its say?" Michael asked as he looked at the red scripture, "how do you know that?" Michael asked and eyed Ben with strange light blue eyes.

"There were two people in the forest; one of them is named… Randall or something," Ben explained and pointed to the forest behind him, "they said they met a guy named Michael that had that-" he pointed to the parchment. "I don't know what they are or what 'the Black Hand' is but they do seem kind of important, right?"

Thinking it over Michael shook his head and folded the parchment again before dropping it into his backpack. "What do you think it is? It kind of looks like an invitation for something, for 'the Black Hand' thing, whatever it is."

"Well," Ben said dryly, "I think I know where the Black Hand is, though."

"What?"

"Remember how I said I found a road and there was a little sign that said that the road lead to this Grimdale place?" Ben asked and upon receiving a nod he continued, "well beneath the word 'Grimdale' there was a little marker and it was said the Black Hand and both of the names had an arrow thing that pointed to the road. So maybe the Black Hand is in Grimdale."

"Well should we set out to Grimdale?" Michael asked as he fiddled with the strap on his backpack, placing a hand gingerly on the hilt of his sword he looked to Ben for an answer.

"Sure, we need to go somewhere and like you said if we find a city maybe we can find out what's going on here," Ben said as he adjusted the collar to his white shirt. It seemed like the two were preparing for a journey, like some grand adventure was on the horizon. Both men trusted each other, it seemed that it would be better to live together than to die alone, and so they both set out. There was a long road ahead of them and a large amount of darkness brewing on the horizon.

_(=I=)_

"_How much do they know?_" the man with narrow features asked. The taller man opposite to him seemed to think for a minute before answering.

"_Nothing, especially not Ben, and he will never know until… you know_" the Man in Black answered, adjusting the black cap that cast a shadow down over his face.

_"Good,_" said the man who was looking past the Man in Black and out from under the awning, into the faint glimmer of the rising sun. Letting the gravel of Grimdale crunch under his feet the man leaned his back against the stone building, _"they have so much work ahead of them…_" the man with narrow features murmured, almost to himself.

"_Henry,_" the Man in Black asked, face turning to look the shorter man; in the low morning light he could see the name tag pinned to the shorter man's shirt that read _My Name is: Henry!_ "_What happens after? After my work is done?_"

"_I don't know, it's beyond me,_" Henry Gale replied shaking his head, "_well I have to leave, good luck on the assignment,_" Henry stated blandly. Making a small bow to the taller Man in Black, Henry started to walk away and seemed to vanish in the light of the rising sun leaving the Man in Black by the small opening in the pavement next to the building.

_"They're closer now,_" the Man in Black said before vanishing in a bundle of alien whispers, leaving his shadow momentarily painted on the small symbol etching above the water filled opening in the pavement. The symbol of the Black Hand.

_(=I=)_

**A/N: SO yeah short chapter for once! And they will get longer the further along but for now we have little bite-sized chapters of a thousand words. And anyone have any guesses to what the Black Hand is yet? Anyone? You won't find out until "Season Two" I guess so if you know shoot me a PM if you will. Anyway, remember to drop a review, it helps SO much, and I will see you next time!**


	10. Chapter Eight: What Travels in the Dark

**A/N: Welcome to my little corner of the Internet! Will that ever get old? No way, man! Anyways, Ben and Michael are making their way to Grimdale and let's just skip to when they're running? Cool? Good!**

_(=I=)_

They had found the dusty road that snaked through the forest and curled around hills to the mysterious Grimdale. It was at that point that across the bright morning sky a few dark clouds had started to gather and an inhuman cry came from behind the two. Currently they were running away from a hoard that was quickly sprinting towards them, distorted hands reaching out to swipe at them. Michael and Ben looked at each other and back at the hoard with wide eyes.

"How did this happen?" Michael asked, "where'd they come from?"

"No idea," Ben huffed out between a few shaky breathes, even with his long legs he wasn't making up much ground and Michael could see that he was starting to fall behind. "What should we-" Ben started but suddenly with a cry of panic Ben twisted on something on the road and Michal could see that he crashed to the ground. Struggling to pull the sword from its loop Ben let out a scream as the hoard quickly fell on him, quickly making a rough circle around him.

With a million thoughts running through his mind Michael pulled the sword out of its loop and sprinted back to the hoard and quickly began to hack away at them. Bringing the blade down on the neck of the nearest creature he heard a harsh snap and watched the thing crumple over. Swiping the back of another it let out a grunt and squirmed momentarily before Michael brought the sword slashing through its neck which brought it down the road.

Peeling off of Ben the hoard was now looking at Michael who impaled another creature and kicking it back into the hoard where it crashed into two of the other walkers. Swiping the blade across the face of an approaching walker the creature writhed and sent pale fingers squirming at the bloody blur that was its face. Aiming at another walker Michael managed to send the flat blade of the sword into the thing's ribs sending it toppling over.

One of the things suddenly rushed at Michael with hands outstretched. Bulleting forward the walker sent black claws slashing through Michael's wrist, sending him scrambling over. Taking a few twisting steps Michael felt himself stumble down to the ground and land on the gravely slush of the road with a thud. One of the creatures leaned forward with rotting lips bared open, showing rough teeth glistening with some kind of black fluid; it came forward to deliver a bite when Michael heard a crunch.

Looking up with a scream half out of his mouth Michael could see a sudden wave of scarlet fill his vision, and then the headless corpse of the walker already starting to twist away. Blinking, Michael then could see the body collapsing on the road with a wave crimson coming from the stump of the neck. Feeling a sudden urge to vomit, Michael twisted away and could see Ben back on his face taking down even more walkers with quick stabs and twists with the sword.

Jumping up Michael watched as Benjamin let his sword break through the walker's chest and then let the thing fall on the side of the road. "Oh good God…" Michael said trying to resist the feeling of vomiting again, "what the hell are those things?" he asked looking at Benjamin he could see the tall man's face was twisted with disgust. "Like… are they dead? Are they like walking dead?"

"I would guess," Ben said with a frown on his face as his eyes swept over the damage, shaking himself Ben looked away and down the road. "Well, I'm pretty sure they are. However they came here is beyond me," exhaling Ben squinted at something in the distance, "okay so a little bit ahead there's that sign that says 'Grimdale' so I guess we're in the right direction."

"Alright," Michael coughed as he gathered himself; dropping the sword back in its loop Michael followed Ben as they made their way down the gravel road. Michael let the headache in his head fade away as he looked down the road, he could see a backpack sitting in the road far ahead, resting near the small Grimdale sign. Going to Ben's side he tapped his shoulder and pointed to the backpack, before asking what it was Michael watched as Ben's face seemed to pale.

"That belonged to someone named Ana I believe, she was a part of the Black Hand thing I think. I saw her heading towards the beach after she dropped her backpack," looking down at Michael, Ben saw it was Michael who turned pale this time. For a few brief seconds Ben could see a look of confusion storming on Michael's face before realization split through as he suddenly snapped to the backpack and started to sprint towards it, but still trying to be quiet.

"Um, okay Ben," Michael started to explained as he looked at the backpack, "okay so before I ran into you I was kind of going down the beach and kind of right as the sun was setting this girl came running out of the forest. She had an arrow in her side and she was really messed up; do you think that's the Ana you saw?"

"Yeah," Ben said as he stepped toward Michael, "but why are you so content on looking through her backpack?" he asked, crinkling his eyebrows.

"Well another guy I met on the beach said that she had been 'exiled' from the Black Hand thing. There has to be a reason, right?" Michael asked as he started to look through the backpack.

"I already checked it," Ben coughed, "there's nothing-" but he watched as Michael turned it over and suddenly a strange object fell on to the gravel road with a crash. _But there was nothing there; I checked it_ Ben thought to himself as he watched Michael bend down to pick it up, but suddenly the memory of the whispers behind him; how the backpack had moved. The whispers that were always around the Man in Black… Benjamin found himself whispering it, "he put it there…"

"Who?" Michael asked as he looked over the object, Michael looked down at the shape and saw it was a leather bound book with a small latch on it. Undoing the latch and opening it up to the first page Michael looked up at Ben who seemed to be spaced out, clearing his throat Michael tried again, "Ben? Who?"

Abruptly coming out of the strange spell Ben shook his head and then started to speak; "it's just that I saw someone in the forest before I ran into you, like a man in black" he tried.

"Well shit son," Michael said as he started to stand up straight, "like a guy dressed all in black, couldn't see his face, massively tall?" Michael asked as he started to look through the book.

"Yeah," Ben said raising an eyebrow, "I take it you saw the same guy?"

"Yep, same guy same everything," Michael said as he looked through the rest of the backpack, "and I know what this is," he said as he shook the small book in his hand.

"Well… what is it?" Ben asked Michael started to flip through the book. Apparently finding something, Ben watched as Michael snapped the book close and held it up.

"I'm not entirely sure yet but I think once I'm done…" Michael trailed off as he looked at Ana's Black Hand parchment that had been left in her backpack.

"Then…" Ben pressed and Michael gave him a smile.

"I think this journal has our answers."

_(=I=)_

"Should we attack now?" Peter asked him.

Frowning back at him, Randall exhaled before answering, "no, if we attack now we're gonna risk one of them running off into the forest and escaping, we need both of their invitations to the Black Hand." For the past several minutes the two bandits had been watching Michael and Ben from off the road, occasionally looking through the trees to spy on them. Both of them had invitation to the Black Hand, Randall saw. "We have to wait until they get to the city, Grimdale, and then we kill them," he stated flatly.

"Alright, it looks like they're moving again," Peter remarked and pointed off to the road ahead of them where Ben and Michael were moving forward.

"Let's go," Randall said with a twisted grin.

_(=I=)_

**Sorry for the long wait guys, life has been busy as of late but this series will continue. Also, because some of these chapters will be written weeks apart don't expect 100% accurate continuity; but according to a certain internet critic we're all living inside a giant plot hole so it's alright. Either way, I'm going to set some time aside and I'm going to write as much as I can; maybe 10 pages worth of story and then I'm gonna break it apart into MineZ chapters for you guys. Hang in there, this story had just begun. **


	11. Chapter Nine: The Man Behind the Curtain

**A/N: Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet! In this chapter we're gonna go through the eyes of a certain character I've created who is a… reference to a very awesome YouTube-r. You'll know who I'm talking about when you learn his name (in the next chapter), trust me :)**

_(=I=)_

The sun was shining through his window as he woke up, blinking he looked through the empty frame that was once a window to see that the orange face of the sun had pushed through the tree tops. Stretching he listened to the several cracks that came from his joints as he got himself up, he looked down at the bench he had been sleeping on, still stiff and unbearable no matter how many blankets he put on it. Stretching he went to a small counter that was pushed up against one of the walls.

Clearing away a few newspapers (with NMTC emblazed on the top corner) the man picked up a small satchel bag and opened the top leather latch. Peering down inside he looked down with a small amount of dismay as he saw he was on his last bandage as well as the last morsels of food. Grumbling to himself the man stuffed down a small roll of cookies and a lump of bread as he pulled out the last bandage and quickly replaced the one already wrapped on his left shoulder.

Taking a sip of water from his water bottle the man looked out the curtain that took place of the wall. Originally this "home" was a simple bus stop but with a heavy curtain it worked well enough. As he slurped down another swallow of fresh water the man was about to screw on the NMTC brand cap when there was a noise outside. It was a voice, and in surprise the man let the water bottle fall from his hand and crash on the ground where the water quickly emptied onto the floor.

"_So do you think we should try and find it_?" the voice asked and the man looked in surprise to the curtain as the voice approached. "_Of course_," a different voice answered, "_we do have invitations, right?_"

Now set in a small amount of panic the man rushed over to a peg he had nailed in the wall and pulled off a bow. Reaching under the bench he had slept on the man pulled out an arrow and placed it in the bow, ready to fire. Pulling the bow back, the man aimed the flint arrowhead at the curtain as he listened to the voices behind the curtain. "_What's this?"_ a voice asked and another voice answered it, "_it looks like a bus stop or something…_" Starting to step towards the curtain the man heard the voice ask, "_then what's with the curt-_"

Running forward the man ripped the curtain back and aimed the bow and arrow at the nearest of the two men. "I paid for my life," the man shouted at the two as he swung the arrow at each of the two, "get-" but the words died in his mouth. A look of confusion crossed his face and he let the arrow lower down, when one of the men stepped forward he quickly raised it and then he shouted, "who the hell are you?"

_(=I=)_

Michael and Ben walked down the road, the sun was just now starting to glimmer over the treetops but the road still kept a straight line to the faraway city of Grimdale. "So basically, this is like a diary of sorts," Michael explained, "it belonged to Ana I believe and I was hoping it would explain what the Black Hand is or where it actually is but it's like ruined."

"What do you mean?" Ben asked and Michael opened the diary to show a page of smudged black scribbles.

"Water damage on like every page, I don't know how it got dropped in water but there's only a few pages that I can actually read," Michael explained, "but I still got a lot from it."

"Like what?"

"Well most of the stuff left over is just like daily stuff, wherever the Black Hand is, it's in like a vault of some sorts or something. I'm not too sure because she never exactly explained anything but still it's better than nothing. Also, I think I found the reason why she was kicked out of the Black Hand; on some of the last pages it showed that she was really interested in this item that's in the Black Hand or something like that. Whatever it is, I kind of gathered that she tried to steal it and got kicked out because of it."

"Must be pretty important if they shot her for it," Ben remarked as he watched Michael stare over the diary.

"Yep," Michael murmured flatly as he focused down on one page, "the last page says something about a map, too. That could be important, we can actually figure out where we are."

"Good!" Ben said, "it'd be nice to know if there's actually anything out there. Or we could just stay with the Black Hand, whatever it is it sounds like as long as we don't steal their stuff we should be in the lap of luxury."

Michael suddenly froze as he came to a realization. Even after Ben tapped his shoulder Michael had gone wide eyed and he rapidly started to speak. "The man, the man I met on the beach after Ana died he was part of the Black Hand too. He stole the bottle things and they chased him out or something!"

"What?" Ben asked with a confused look on his face.

"It's just that when I was walking down the beach I met Ana, arrow in her side and everything and after that I went forward and met this other guy. He said he was a friend of Ana's and that he was with her in the Black Hand, but after Ana was exiled he tried to escape himself and stole like a couple of bottles of this wine stuff. And in her diary I found this name 'Mr. Bathmel' all over the place. I don't know why I got so like amazed by it but I never even considered that he…" Michael trailed off and did a small shrug.

"Well, either way…" Ben said slowly as he raised an eyebrow at Michael, "back to the map thing." For a few seconds as they went down the road Michael turned to Ben and asked him to continue. "Well like I said the Black Hand may be the only kind of civilization in this world, so maybe we should try and go for. Like…" he paused for a few seconds as they continued down the road, "so do you think we should try and find it?" he asked Michael.

"Of course," Michael returned and then he partial pulled the Black Hand parchment out, "we do have invitations, right?"

_(=I=)_

In the underbrush Peter looked up at Randall who had been sneaking along behind the trees when he had suddenly stopped. Starring down the road Peter saw that Randall wasn't looking at Michael or Ben but something else on the side of the road. "What is it? Randall?" Peter tried and he saw that his mentor had pulled out an iron sword. "Uh, hey? What's-"

"Shut up!" Randall hissed at him. "You see that curtain back there?" Randall questioned.

_(=I=)_

"What's this?" Michael asked as he pointed down the road to a strange stall on the other side of the Grimdale road. It had three plastic sides with the image of a faded cartoon smiling bus on it and the letters NMTC scripted above it. Under the logo in the same font as NMTC were the words: "Transportation Services."

"It looks like a bus stop or something…" Ben murmured as he crinkled his brow, as Ben and Michael approached they could see a faded curtain was draped over the side with the missing wall.

_(=I=)_

"Yeah, what about it?" Peter asked running his thumb over the beak of his nose, "some kind of stall with a curtain… So what?"

"The guy in there is insane," Randall said, "killed a few people last time I saw him, be very careful and do not get spotted by him. We can't let him kill them, we need them to get into Grimdale before they can die. If one of them runs into the forest we'll never find them or their invitations."

"Alright," Peter swallowed a brief wave of nervousness passing over his face, someone who's criminally insane- the perfect way to start the day…

_(=I=)_

"Then what's with the curt-" Michael began and he watched as the faded curtain was torn aside and a large man stepped out, a wild mop of brown hair hung around sunken eyes and a beard splashed down to his chest. A worn jacket was draped over his shoulders and in his hands was a bow and arrow which was pointed directly at them. Gasping the two men jumped back as this new man stepped towards them, swinging the flint headed arrow at the two of them.

"I paid for my life!" the man shouted, "get-" the words died in his mouth as he looked at Michael and Ben. Not knowing what to do Michael watched as the man started to lower his bow. Inching forward, Michael jumped back when he saw the man had whipped the bow up again and was about to release. They watched as the man swung his gaze between the two of them and shouted, "who the hell are you?"

_(=I=)_

**A/N: Hello people, as an "I'm Sorry" card for the long delay here's another chapter, hope you like it. And the guy you just met will be kind of explained as well in the next chapter. Also, he'll give us a bit of exposition about how the dead are walking. So, I'll see you next time which will hopefully be in the next couple of days. See you in the next chapter!**


	12. Chapter Ten: The Price of Life

**A/N: Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet! So you may be asking: who is this (possibly) insane guy we met in the last chapter? Well he is going to be my favorite character and hopefully he can be yours too. Even though he's slightly insane he gets a bit calmer later on, don't worry. Oh, and after every season and right before episode one of the next season there's going to be a little recap of everything that has happened. So don't worry if you get confused.**

_(=I=)_

"Um…" Michael began as he slowly raised his hands, he watched as the man swung the arrow back and forth between the two. "I'm Michael.." he said slowly and then motioned towards Ben, "and that's Ben. Can I ask who you are?" Michael tried but the strange man seemed to ignore his question.

"Are you with the Black Hand?" he asked , raising an eyebrow. Michael and Ben both looked at each other before answering. Were they? They've never seen or have been in the Black Hand, whatever it was.

"No…" Ben tried and looked for Michael for support, nodding at him Ben continued, "why are you asking?" Looking at the man the two eased when they saw he lowered the bow and arrow.

"And what is the Black Hand?" Michael added, they watched as the man nodded and muttered to himself. Glancing briefly at them the man reached for the curtain and pulled it back showing a strange home. Both Ben and Michael could see that what was at once a bus stop was now made into a make-shift house. Over the bench were several dusty blankets, on the bench was a satchel and a few newspapers, a small chest was pushed into one corner, and a small package of apples and the remains of a loaf of bread was on the "bed."

"I don't know," the man said as he went to pick up a spilled water bottle, "but I do know that every month two strange men come from the city and ask for money. They say that as long as I can get more of it for them I can continue living here. The most they have told me is that they are a part of the Black Hand. I thought that those two men were you two and so I naturally panicked." After many months of having no contact with no one the man had started to degenerate, the way he spoke seemed to be broken and slurred.

"What do they ask for?" Ben tried and he watched as the man hung the bow on a peg and dust of the water bottle. The man eyed him for a second and then went to pushing the few morsels of food into the leather satchel he then swung over his shoulder. Looking at the two once again the man then picked up the chest in the corner and dragged it to face Michael and Ben.

"This is what they ask for," the man explained and opened the chest, revealing the dusty contents inside. In the chest there were at least seven grimy bottles filled with a strange red liquid with the letters NMTC labeled on the neck of the bottle. Not only that but small packages were also littered amongst the bottles, looking up the two the man then explained. "The bottles are Healing Drinks and the packages are Light Chunks, I found a large amount of them in a small chamber. When the two men found me they were about to kill me before they found those and I told them that I could get them more. So as long as I can give them these every month I can live here without disturbance."

"What do they do?" Michael asked as the man closed the chest but his question was ignored.

"My name is Kurt by the way," the man explained as he placed the chest back in the corner of the strange room, "to answer your earlier question, Michael. I-" he stopped when there was a sudden low beat coming from farther down the road, suddenly Kurt's head shot off to the road, "they're here."

"What do you-" Ben began but Kurt hushed him as he motioned for Michael and Ben to back away, closing the curtain as the odd beat continued from the forest. The beat started to grow stronger as the air seemed to take on a dark loathing tone, looking around for the source of the beating Kurt then grabbed three Healing Drinks and a handful of Light Chunks. "Should we hide?" Ben asked Kurt.

"If you want," Kurt answered and both Ben and Michael went behind the curtain as the beating grew louder. Kurt looked around in the forest as suddenly the beating stopped all together. There was a slight pause as two lights suddenly sprang to life in the forest trees, even in the day the lights seemed to be bright in the shadow of the trees. And then two men came from the trees, each carrying a blazing torch in pallid skeletal hands.

Behind the curtain Ben and Michael listened to the members of the Black Hand speak to Kurt. A very low voice began, "do you have more? We need at least a dozen Healing Drinks."

Another shrill voice continued, "we can accept no less than a dozen, Zachery demands so."

"I only have six Healing Drinks," Kurt's voice explained, "but I have more than enough Light Chunks-"

"We can accept no less than twelve," the shrill voice cut in.

"You know the penalty when our demands are not met," the low voice murmured.

"I'm sorry, I can get more, I promise I can," before Kurt could say anything else the low voice interrupted.

"Get to it, we need exactly twelve as Zachery has commanded," the low voice said and was soon followed by the shrill voice.

"We will return in one hour, if you do not have what we require you will be punished," the shrill voice followed and then, from behind the curtain, Michael and Ben heard the fading footsteps and then the crushing of underbrush.

Kurt watched as the two members of the Black Hand went back into the forest where the lights flashed out. He watched as the beats started again and then slowly faded out into the forest. A strange look passed over his face, crinkling his brow he turned back to the curtain and pulled it back revealing Michael and Benjamin.

"That's odd," Kurt murmured to himself as he went to the chest in the corner of the room, dropping the items he had in his hands into the chest. Closing the lid he turned to face Michael and Ben.

"What?" Michael asked as he watched Kurt go about the room.

"They seem weaker than usual, it almost looks like they are sick," Kurt explained as he tossed a handful of arrows into the satchel on his side. Taking the bow off the wall once again he looked at Michael and Ben, "I'm going to the chamber I was talking about, you can come along if you wish," and with that he set off, closing the curtain behind him.

For a few seconds Michael and Ben stared at each other as Kurt slipped into the forest. "Does this place have food?" Michael called after Kurt, both Ben and Michael had already started to follow Kurt as he made his way through the trees.

"There is some," Kurt answered without looking back, "I do not need any, but you will have to get it yourself."  
Turning to Ben as they, too, made their way through the first line of trees Michael said in a low voice, "what do we have to lose?"

"Well, our lives for one thing," Ben answered, "or maybe we could get entirely lost and never find Grimdale."

"We could use the food; we don't know what's really in Grimdale do we?" Michael hissed and then the two sped up to tail Kurt deeper into the forest. Following Kurt the two swung through the forest until they could see a clearing, and what they saw in the middle of the clearing was something very out of place.

Trying to look at the top of the thing Ben bent his head up to see the very tip of the thing; it filled the entire clearing and was the biggest thing either of them had seen. "Uh…," Ben began as he looked at it, "how does something like that happen?" Looking at the base of the object he could see a strange sign that was plastered into the surface.

"How…?" Michael began but then he saw the sign that read: "**A Product of the North Maine Trading Center**"

_(=I=)_

**A/N: And so there's another one for you, I'm gonna try and pump as many as these out as I can. Considering that the big Season One finale is coming up soon I'm going to focus on the new story I'm thinking of. "And So It Begins" is the title I think I'm gonna use for it, so remember to look for it when it comes out. And really this isn't much of a cliff-hanger, the object in the middle of the field isn't all to special but it'll show you one of the many things the NMTC did in this world.**


	13. Chapter Eleven: Three Figures of Vision

**A/N: Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet! So people, I'm planning on letting the chapters get a bit longer maybe at a minimum of 2000 words in a chapter. Don't worry though the change is going to be very subtle, you won't go from a little bite-sized chapter to a "War and Peace" long chapter. And for the couple of people who read this, check out Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" if you're not already a Pink Floyd fan. Do it! Do it now!**

**(Disclaimer: Some bits might be considered a little graphic and slightly gory, so don't read if you can't take blood)**

_(=I=)_

"So a giant tree?" Ben questioned as they looked at the great tree standing in the middle of the clearing.

"A dead tree," Michael added, "covered in spider webs for some reason," he crinkled his brow at the strange tree. It was easily at least forty five feet tall and was at least seven feet thick at the trunk. The branches seemed to be devoid of leaves and twisted towards the sky like skeletal limbs. The only thing that was on the tree were heavy white cobwebs that hung down like funeral shrouds, however they did seem to be devoid of their spinner or their captive audience.

"Yes," Kurt said in a heavy voice, "but what we are looking for is _under_ the tree," he said as he readjusted the satchel on his side and started to stride towards the tree. As he started to move Michael and Ben caught the glimpse of four strange letters stitched into the side of the satchel that read _FLOB_. Raising an eyebrow they watched as Kurt started to circle the tree and seemed to be studying the trunk of the tree, looking for something.

"Well how did I get.." Michael began, "big?"

Snapping up from his work of observing the tree, Kurt looked directly at Michael and Ben. Raising an eyebrow he called to them, "you don't know about the Sickness? The Collapse?"

As Kurt went back to inspecting the tree trunk, he was now tapping a bit of the trunk, Ben called back to him. "No, we don't know what's going on… we kind of just woke up here. Do you know what's going on?"

Finally appearing to find something Kurt tapped the surface again and put his ear near it. Instead of the knock of wood a hollow metal sound came from the small stretch of bark and, appearing to find it, he started to grab at one of the ridges in the bark. Finding a space he started to pull the space of bark over whilst pushing down on it, after a few seconds there was a clank and a small square of bark was pressed down. Moving it to right left the small square pushed under the tree bark to reveal a small dark pocket in the tree.

Reaching inside, Kurt started to fumble with a small pulley inside and eventually was able to wrap his hands around a small chain somewhere inside the dark opening. Yanking down a great shudder seemed to come over the tree as suddenly the gray veils of cobwebs started to shake like caught in the wind. A change seemed to come over the large tree as suddenly, right under the NMTC sign, part of the trunk sunk inside with a mechanical clicking and was sucked into the ground with a _whoosh!_

Behind the door was a strange darkness where the first few slabs of dusty stairs could be seen descending down into the unknown depths. As it was thrown open a strange wind seemed to fly out of the darkness, passing right by Kurt like a wave where it then rolled over Michael and Ben, carrying the sickly sweet smell of decay. It was then that the smell of rotting, like the smell of an ancient corpse, suddenly flooded the entire valley making Ben go into a coughing fit. And just as Kurt crossed the strange threshold Ben let out a hoarse whimper as his eyes rolled back into his skull and he collapsed on the ground.

_(=I=)_

_Running this way and that he made his way through the darkness. There were no hallways, there were no walls, and he was pretty sure there wasn't a floor under him as well. But the one thing Benjamin knew was that he had to run, run into the darkness the sprung into his eyes and to keep running until he gave in. As he kept sprinting forward he tried to think of the thing that was behind him but he couldn't make himself turn back and so he continued a dead sprint._

_ Eventually Ben felt his head get pulled back and he tossed a glance over his shoulder to see the thing behind him. There was an orb of golden light after him that seemed to be holding and overflowing flames at the same time. When he looked at it Ben felt a sudden split in his mind as he snapped his eyes shut but the image seemed to be burned into his mind. Feeling himself falling Ben opened his eyes once again to see that the symbol was glowing bright directly in front of his eyes._

_ …_

_ Running this way and that he made his way through the darkness. There were no hallways, there was no walls, and he was pretty sure there wasn't a floor under him as well…_

_ Stopping Ben tried to think about what he was just doing but only felt a deep volt of pain sear his mind as he put his hands over his eyes. Standing still Ben listened to the darkness around him as he cradled his head, the pain still glowing bright like a furnace in his skull as he finally managed to get his eyes to flicker open. Staring into the far off darkness the pain seemed to wane in his skull but still seemed to be searing his mind as he looked for anything._

_ Then he could hear whispers, small cuts of dark secrets flying around him until something stepped out of the shadows. Ben looked to see not some_one _move from the shadows, but some_thing_ move from the black depths. He could see an ancient well in front of him, dusty blocks making up a watering hole capped with a small wooden roof. Approaching it Ben went to the lip of the well and looked down inside to see murky black water where he could see his own distorted reflection that seemed to flicker to a shadow._

_ He backed away when suddenly something broke the surface of the water, a dark mass jumped from out of the well and scrambled out of the watering hole. Backing away Ben could see that the thing was human in shape but was wearing a loose black robe and had a strange mask that almost seemed to be fused to the man's flesh. The right hand of the being was held out to face Ben with the palm being slathering in a black substance, making a definite black hand._

_ Starting to sprint away, Ben turned to see that now an impossible site was behind him; a large glowing orb with a twisting staircase leading up to it. Standing on the bottom step were three figures each of which were covered in a white cowl and had a yellow circle emblazoned on their chest. In the front was Henry Gale with open arms facing Ben; to his left was a tall wiry man with his hood hiding his face, but the red letter _R_ was scrawled inside the yellow circle; to his right was a woman who also had her face hidden, but the letter _A_ was emblazoned on her cloak._

_ Each of the three were doing very different things, Henry who was in front seemed to be looking at the space above Benjamin as if there was something hovering atop his head. The man with the _R_ was looking directly at Ben however and seemed to be hiding himself from Ben's line of sight and was tugging at his hood. On the right of Henry the woman with the _A _on her chest seemed to be looking around in the darkness and had long waves of light brown hair coming from her hood. When Henry stopped his open arms gesture he dropped his gaze to Ben and so did _R _and_ A_ as well, and soon all three of them seemed to be judging Ben._

_ It was Henry who was the first to pull out a small sign of brass that Ben could read no matter how obscured they were placed. The one that Henry presented read in large friendly letters: _PAULSTER. _In the rugged hand of _R_ was a plaque that read: _GRIMDALE _in harsh twisted letters_;_ and finally in the slim and pale hands of _A _was a sign that read: _CARMI,_ scripted in curly fancy letters. Suddenly Ben watched as the words seemed to flow into peculiar imagery. _PAULSTER _formed into a floating yellow orb that seemed to be glowing in the dark, _GRIMDALE_ transformed into the seal of the Black Hand, and _CARMI_ formed into a seal of a red arrow._

_ "_Be careful,_" Henry said and tossed a very nervous look at _R_ who had taken to glancing at Ben again, "_they're closer than you think_."_

_(=I=)_

Ben woke with a start as he looked into the concerned face of Michael. About to say something the silence of the forest clearing was shattered by the sound of snarling and Ben watched as Michael's face snapped up. Scrambling away Ben grabbed the sword from the loop in his backpack and was able to get himself up. Coming from the trees was a cluster of the walking dead, racing towards him at top speed as strange howling came from their haggard throats. Ben watched as Michael was the first to rush towards them but Kurt seemed to be nowhere around; not knowing what to do Ben gripped the hilt of his sword and rushed forward.

Swinging the blade into the nearest creature Ben screwed his eyes as a small burst of black blood rushed forward. Dragging the blade from the corpse he watched as a chunk of rotten flesh dropped to the ground as he drew the sword backwards. Just as the creature was about to close its hands over his throat, Ben brought the sword forward and drove it through the thing's stomach where it came out with a crunch. Drawing out, Ben quickly made his way towards the next member of the walking dead which was already advancing towards him.

Aiming straight at the chest, the sword blade cut straight through the ragged clothes and left a deep gash along the creature's rotten ribcage. Slicing off the right arm the zombie let out a horrid cry as black blood curst through with a few twisted bone fragments. Turning the blade, Ben swung the flat side of the sword forward and rammed it into the thing's chest. Cutting into its neck Ben was able to twirl the sword so the bottom of the hilt was exposed and was able to crash it through the creature's skull.

Acting faster, Ben swung the sword in a vibrant gray arc so that the shining blade sliced away at two of the advancing nemesis. Plunging the tip of the blade through the heart of one and kicking the feet out from under another, Ben could see a mass of them had flooded through the forest. A brief glance at Michael showed that he had puddled five of the deceased at his feet and that several were collapsed on the ground with mysterious arrow wounds.

Swinging to face the next walker Ben raised his sword just as the air suddenly seemed to flicker in the corner of his eye and was accompanied by a sharp _twang!_ Suddenly the walker stopped as a flint arrow head burst from its head, erasing its face in a harsh red blur as it crumpled over. Confused Ben stepped away and watched as another walker collapsed with an arrow in its neck; looking up Ben could see the blur of a firing arrow come from the lower branches of the strange giant tree where Kurt had positioned himself.

Running towards the tree to join Kurt, Ben was surprised when a walker now reducing to crawling on the ground grabbed his leg. Screaming he swatted at it in desperation with his sword as he started to stumble away. Looking back at the tree Ben could see that the dark opening in the trunk was still open and turning around to face five distorted rotting faces Ben plunged himself down into the depths. Going into the darkness Ben felt the first steps and then felt his heel sliding off of the second.

Tumbling down the steps Ben eventually felt his head connect with the dusty floor of the strange room below the tree. Flickering his eyes open Ben looked around to see his vision swirling and cast his gaze upwards to see the opening in the tree, now a rectangle of bright light crossed with shadows. Pulling his gaze back to the room Ben could smell strong decay and looked up to see a dark skeletal face grinning down at him.

_(=I=)_

**A/N: Hey guys, so here's the first of those 2000+ chapters; by the end these chapters are going to be MUCH longer but as I said the change is going to be very gradual. Oh and if you still don't know who Kurt is a "tribute" to I'm just gonna tell you: Kurtjmac the FarLands guy! :D**

**So, what does Kurt mean about "the Collapse"? Why did he have those newspapers in his shack? Who are the two mysterious people ("R" and "A") that appeared in Ben's vision? And the two very early questions: What is the Black Hand? And what is the NMTC?**

**To be answered later, but I will tell you: thanks to Kurt you guys are gonna be given a little history lesson on the wonderful world of MineZ.**


	14. Chapter Twelve: An Eye into the Past

**A/N: Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet! So the story is continuing on and that little history lesson will come soon but not in this episode, today we're gonna learn just a bit about the NMTC. Also, what you guys are about to learn, about what's in that strange chamber under the Grimdale Tree- that is going to be very important so remember it. Oh, and I'm gonna continue with putting up longer chapters. And another thing: by the "Season Finale" of season one not every question is going to be explained but by season two the question of what the Black Hand is will definitely be answered.**

**_(=I=)_**

Taking in a deep breath Michael slammed the sharp blade of his sword into the last of the walkers. Grimacing at the sharp splatter of black blood and rotten gray matter he cleaned the blade of the rustic sword on the grass. Looking up he watched as Kurt dropped from the lower branches of the great tree, slinging the bow over his shoulder once again. "Uh...," Michael looked around the clearing and then to Kurt who was making his way towards the tree, "where's Ben?"

Ignoring him, Kurt dropped down into the chamber, clambering down the stairs into the darkness under the tree. Not knowing what to do Michael dropped his sword back in its loop and followed just as he heard screaming coming from the chamber. Placing his hands on the hilt of his sheathed sword Michael rushed down but paused on the steps when a high-pitched whine came from the darkness. There was a crackling buzz and then suddenly from the ceiling of the chamber dusty lights kicked on.

Taking his hands off the hilt Michael could see what was going on, Ben was collapsed near a strange sunken corpse propped up against a dusty stone wall. Gaging on the small of rotting decay that was coming from the corpse, Michael clamped a hand over his nose and mouth as he watched Ben scramble away from the skeleton. The corpse propped on the wall was a shriveled skeleton covered with flaking skin and tissues, a look of pain seemed to have twisted the face of the thing. Whomever the skeleton was they were wearing a black overcoat which was unbuttoned to reveal a large shriveled wound that barreled straight through the man.

One of the most disturbing things about the whole situation Michael noticed was that the skeleton was in a pool of ancient dried blood and had a rotted black hat in one hand and had another hand under a message scrawled on the wall. In jagged black letters scratched on the wall in what appeared to be the man's on blood was a single word that seemed to hold a strange power. Written on the wall in all caps was the word FAREWELL scripted in black curdled blood across the stone.

"Christ, what the…?" Michael began and he suddenly felt the sickening need to hurl but dry swallowed. "Kurt did you know this was down here?" he asked and turned to Kurt who was busy with a strange desk pushed off into a corner of the room.

"Yes I found it when I first came down here, of course when I came down here the first time I had something else to worry about," Kurt muttered over his shoulder and seemed to motion to the white gauze wrapped around his upper arm. Going back to his work, Kurt yanked open the lower left drawer and peered inside. Suddenly, with eyes widening, Kurt pulled out a reel of black film set inside a clunky aluminum casing and placed it on the top of the desk. Switching to a wooden panel on the lower right of the desk Kurt pulled out a musty film projector and placed it next to the film.

"What's that?" Ben asked, recovered from his spook of the dead thing leaned up against the wall, "what's on it?"

"It's a film by the North Maine Trading Center, they used a large amount of them to… explain things to the people," Kurt rambled as he found the desk drawer he was looking for. Pulling it open he grabbed the tips of three murky bottles filled with red liquid, setting them on the desk Kurt then pulled out a handful of Light Chunks.

"What do you mean by that?" Ben asked, but Kurt simply set the projector on the floor and handed the film reel to Ben before heading back to the desk.

Looking around the room Ben started to come to grips with where he was. The room around him was musty and dirty and had a ceiling of strange curling wires that encircled slabs of concrete. It was all around a fairly large room and could easily house perhaps thirty people with room to spread out, and a small doorway spaced on the wall opened up into a set of dusty bunks. In one corner there was the desk that was next to the broken shambles of an old chair. One wall housed a small glass window that revealed a vault of metal behind it and above it was a set of hanging cabinets that were open and empty. And on the opposite wall was a white counter that was covered with overturned beakers and flasks that were either cracked or shattered.

"Uh… what was this place?" Ben asked but the only response was Kurt pointing at the film in his hands. Not knowing what to do, Ben went over to the projector and picked it up, carrying it over to face a clear space of wall. As he started to take the film reel from the case Ben looked up and could see that in a shadowed corner of the wall was a dusty poster plastered over a few bricks. Whilst fiddling with the projector Ben could see Michael was also staring at the poster and was mumbling the words.

"'North Maine Trading Center… Byesford Project. Revolution of the Modern Man!'" Michael read; the name Byesford seemed to spark some kind of memory in his mind but it was quickly put out. Approaching the poster he could see that the NMTC was scripted in large bubble letters with 'Byesford Project' written in a curvy font underneath. 'The Revolution of the Modern Man' was written across the image of a cartoon man with a skinny body, a short stature, and loose clothes; that was then followed by a lightning bolt on the picture's right; which was then followed by the image of a muscular man with a military uniform, a very tall stance, and a gun in his hands.

Underneath it all in almost illegible font was: 'Seek Your Local Distributor To Be Transferred.' Pondering the meaning of the message Michael turned to ask Kurt about it but he saw Ben had put the film in the projector and was about to switch it on. Casting his gaze intently to the blank white wall where the glass eye of the projector was pointed Michael heard the machine kick on and then a whirling come from the inside of the dusty machine followed by a consistent humming.

Looking at the wall Michael watched as the glass eye of the projector started to glow and suddenly the humming intensified as the film reel started to move. With the film feeding into the machine the white square that was being cast out from the electrical eye suddenly started to flicker into an old dusty image as the film reeled by. Suddenly an image was cast upon the bricks of the wall and started to play out a strange animation as an infomercial type voice sounded from the ancient insides of the projector.

"_Welcome to the third out of eight testing stations built by your very own North Maine Trading Company! You have been chosen out of your general population to assist our head scientists in our new branch of research!_" the voice called as it played over the image of a cartoon man jumping from the bed of a very old-fashion house and running into an animated version of the room Michael, Ben, and Kurt were in now. Waving at the audience the cartoon man suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke and reappeared dressed in a dark green jumpsuit with the letters NMTC on the sleeves.

"_Here you will helping our scientist gather equipment and resources for our next stage of research! If you have already served at our two previous stations: the Grimdale Reserve or the Carmi Underground; you can transfer to our new Byesford Project! But for those who wish to continue at your present craft, listen up!_" the voice went on. This time the animation showed the man hopping along with a box of strange materials to the counter where a very tall scientist in a NMTC lab coat was tinkering with a few glass bottles. When getting to the part about the Byesford Project the man walked to the center of the room and looked at the screen, nodding to what the narrator was saying.

"_Now, for the next few months you will be staying here. You will be provided with living area-_" the image flashed to the cartoon man standing among the bunk beds that all had NMTC tags-"_and a place of recreation!_" This time the man was standing in another room where he was sitting in a recliner and was sitting next to a large record player that was pumping out black music notes. "_You will be looking for the following materials: Axil Drinks-_" the man was holding a long necked bottle filled with led liquid- "_and Glinn-axil Morrs-_" the man was now holding up a small bag filled with golden powder that seemed to be glowing.

"_You will not pass the two mile restriction or will be immediately discharged from service of the North Maine Trading Company!_" this was companied by an image of the cartoon man standing in the forest next to a white line, the man was scratching his head. There was a heavy thud as a sign with a red X and a down arrow landed directly on the white line, causing the cartoon man to run off screen.

"_Every three weeks food will be delivered to your station by a Distributor. To any of you who wish to be forwarded to the Byesford Project, please talk to him!_" The image showed the door to the station opening up to reveal a man in a black suit carrying a box marked NMTC: Food, and was waving causally to the audience. "_After the end of a two month testing period you and your fellow acquaintances will be transferred to one of the other NMTC testing stations or taken back to your hometown. And, for future helpers, plans for a-_" the audio garbled as a silent picture of the carton man looking intently at a question mark played out, "_under the sta-_" the audio cut out again as suddenly the imagery jumped to the cartoon man saluting to a flag with NMTC printed on it, flapping in an imaginary breeze.

"_Be sure to spend your time in this branch of research wisely so that our growth formula may one day be a reality. Serve well. Vale!_" the narrator concluded and the screen faded to black. It was then replaced with the image of NMTC hovering above the seal of a semicircle cut into eight pieces, each of which were shaded in alternating black and white. Finally a copyright page appeared, white text on a black screen that read out: COPYRIGHTED BY UNITED-STATE-XII, 2077.

"2077?" Ben asked his brow crinkling as the film ended and Michael switched off the projector. "Is it really 2077? Like…" trailing off Ben put a hand on his chin as he tried to remember what time it could be. "What year is it actually?" Ben asked and was surprised when Kurt broke his silence to answer.

"Most people I've talked to have said that it is 2013 but the newspapers I have of this land say that it is actually 1755, but it certainly doesn't seem like it," Kurt coughed. Now finishing his complete search of the room, the bunks next to the room, and the extra room that Ben and Michael had not explored; Kurt seemed to look grim. Placing the three bottles of red Healing Drinks (or Axil Drinks) and the few Light Chunks (or Glinn-axil Morrs) into his satchel he turned to face Michael and Ben.

"We have a problem," Kurt said as he closed the leather flap, "I don't have enough Healing Drinks… And the hour is almost up…" he said blandly as he cast a glance at the door behind him.

"Not enough for those two…," Michael began but then stopped himself. Were they even people? The strange entrance, the eerie voices, the drum beat in the forest? What were those things that had spoken to Kurt? "Those two… men?"

"Yes," Kurt growled as he started to make his way up the stairs, but Ben called after him.

"Then what will happen?" Ben asked.

"Then we die," Kurt called back. As those three words bounced around in Michael and Ben's skulls the skeletal corpse in the corner of the room seemed to be grinning more than ever.

_(=I=)_

**A/N: FALLOUT REFERENCE! So now that that's out of the way; on to real business. For the OCs, keep them coming because I'm gonna need A LOT when season two starts (season one will be ending in five or so episodes); like even if you want to leave two, go for it. **

**Also, these episodes will be released every week, always on Saturday or maybe that'll change but they will be uploaded on a weekly basis. So, next time there's gonna be a battle when those two guys come back to get those Healing Potions. Seriously, might be gory (by that I mean there's gonna be some blood- trek carefully) and please don't say that it's "too much" cause I'm trying to keep this on the T-rating. **

**Oh, and in the episode after the next one (not complicated at all) Kurt will give us a brief history lesson on the North Maine Trading Company and a few "theories" he has. (Sorry if this chapter seems a bit clunky or just off- isn't the best chapter but it was fun to write) **


	15. Chapter Thirteen: Run, Hide, or Die

**A/N: Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet! So here we are! Another chapter when two very odd people are gonna stumble across our little band of misfits. And for all of you who continue to support this story and drop a review: thank you! I know I'm not very big here but since somewhere out in on the Internet there's a little packet of data with my story inside, that's the same as like a million reviews! And truthfully the few that like comment every couple chapters, that is the same as like fifty reviews! So, read on I guess and thank you ^_^**

_(=I=)_

"What do you mean?" Ben asked running towards Kurt who had already made a steady march back to the tree line. "Can't we just run? Find somewhere else?" he asked, pausing he watched as Kurt stopped and inhaled.

"If I leave then the only protection from this world I have is gone," Kurt breathed, "and even if I were to run I have to go back to my house; my life's work is there and there's no way I'm going to leave it behind." Swinging back to the forest Kurt started to walk through the trees, carefully stepping over exposed roots carefully as he made his way through the trees. Slowly taking out the bow Kurt started to look around the trunks slowly whilst placing a sharp flint headed arrow into the bow. Exhaling through his nose he turned back to Michael and Ben who were a few paces behind him, he said simply "I would suggest getting a weapon out."

"What?" Michael tried, eyes suddenly expanding as he started to look around. Looking around he saw the shadows stopped under the tree branches seemed to become threatening, looming holes in reality. Each little flicker in the trees seemed to take the shape of the two men from the Black Hand or that dreaded Man in Black. Dry swallowing, "I take it we're not so alone here?" he asked bringing the sharp blade out and looking around, "or at least not for long?"

"Yes," Kurt said simply, "by the judgment of the sun-" he simply pointed up to the blue sky shining between the treetops- "the hour is up and they will be returning very soon. We can either: run, hide, or die," Kurt explained in a very ominous monotone voice, as if reading out a death sentence to Michael and Ben.

"But can't we-?" Ben started, pressing two fingers into his left temple as his other hand was grasped on the hilt of his sword, "but can't we just…" he trailed off and slowly started to raise the blade up as the forest around them seemed to grow even darker. A silence filled the area between the three men who had settled in a small clear patch in the pine forest, Ben opened his mouth about to suggest they should start moving, when there was a sudden banging.

In horror Michael and Ben started to look around in the forest as Kurt simply clamped his eyes shut and prepared himself. A single thought ran through Kurt's mind, a thought that had come to him every time the dismal shadow of death inched closer. This time as drum beats started to sound in the nearby forest he found himself almost muttering it, with the words slowly forming on his lips. "I'll be with you soon, Audrey," Kurt whispered with eyes closed and hands clamped on the bow and arrow. Opening his eyes he looked around for the source of the drum beat and readied himself, time to make a stand.

When the beating of the drums started Michael felt a cold lump drop into the pit of his stomach, settling there like it was made of solid lead. Twisting around Michael looked for the drums but the only thing he could see was the trees and the lights that filtered through. He listened closely as the drum beats sounded louder and seemed to draw closer; looking at Ben and Kurt he could see the two of them were also trying to find the source of the drum beats.

Suddenly the hollow clashing stopped, with the last tremor shifting through the air like a shockwave. Suddenly from the twisted drunks came a low voice, dark and heavy like a thunderstorm. "We have been listening for long enough Kurt," the low voice sounded drifting through the air and suddenly from the shadows a torch blazed into life shedding light to a peculiar man. He was short but at the same time very gaunt looking, long ragged sheets of black hair came down to his shoulders, and small dark eyes glimmered in the torch light. In one pale hand he held a blazing torch and in another was a strange kind of double bladed ax.

"Listening long enough Kurt, and we hope that you're not trying to run," a shrill voice inquired. Across the small clear patch Kurt, Michael, and Ben had been standing was another man. The man had almost white hair hanging over his eyes, bleached blond hair rand to his neck and seemed to be in a tattered mess. He was extremely tall compared to the first man and was almost Ben's height but was very skinny with bones visible through stretched white skin. I one hand was a blazing torch and in another was a long jagged dagger that's tip was almost touching the ground.

"And we also wish that your two friends do not consider flight as well," the low voice said softly and very slowly the man started to swing the double bladed ax slowly, like some bizarre pendulum. "If you don't have what we want, Kurt, you know the consequences," the man with the low voice said and started to bring the ax up.

"The same fate awaits your friends," the man with the shrill voice added, staring at Michael and Ben with large wet eyes that seemed to bulge out from his sunken eye sockets. Raising the long knife up, the man with the shrill voice ran his thump against the length of cold metal and started to step forward. "So," the man with the shrill voice started, "do you have what we want, or not?"

"Zachery needs what we have asked for, if you give us any less you will never leave this place," the man with the low voice prophesized, as he started to step forward as well.

"I…," Kurt began, he looked down as if disappointed in himself, "I do not have enough. All I need is a little more ti-" Kurt began but stopped when he saw what the tall madman was doing. The man with the shrill voice now had a wild grin on his face revealing small yellow teeth and had a flowing madness in his eyes as a small laugh burst from between his teeth. Laughing even harder the man lunged forward with the hunting knife and brought it above his head.

Quickly making his way towards Kurt the man was about to bring the hunting knife down when suddenly Ben lunged forward and caught the blade with his own sword. Shocked the man with the shrill voice stopped for a moment before lunging towards Ben and punching him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. Kicking the legs out from under Ben, the man also took the flat side of the hunting knife on Kurt's skull with a crash.

Michael started to rush forward but was stopped when he heard the sound of whistling wind by his ear. The man with the low voice had taken a swing at him but had missed his arm by half an inch. Snapping back Michael brought his sword up and sliced at the shorter man who quickly dashed away and circled around Michael, bringing to ax to his side the man started to swing the half-moon blade towards Michael who caught it again with his sword. Again making a sparkling arch with the sharp blade, Michael aimed at the short man who quickly ducked and aimed a low kick at Michael's knees.

Falling to the ground, Michael looked up to see that the short man had raised the ax above his head and was now smiling a giant crooked grin of yellow teeth. Swinging down with the ax Michael gripped the hilt of the sword with one hand and tried to swing it at the feet of the short man and felt a sickening thump as the blade hit target. Letting out a curse the short man stumbled and let out a harsh howl as blood started to run down his leg. Dropping the ax the short man fell to the ground as Michael jumped to his feet; with positions reversed Michael brought the sword down to the man's neck.

Seeing this, the tall man who was about to attack Kurt, now saw the short man was in danger. Stomping down on Kurt's stomach with a heavy engineer boot to catch Kurt in a daze, the tall man circled around to Michael. Swiping the shimmering blade across Michael's shoulder, Michael jumped and stumbled back as a wound sprang up on his skin. With his sword in his bleeding hand and the other one clamped on the wound Michael looked to see that the tall and the short men were approaching.

Gasping, Michael watched as Ben suddenly appeared behind the tall man with a sword raised up. Somehow the man with the shrill voice sensed he was behind him and brought the heavy hilt of the blade. Cracking it down on Ben's skull Michael watched as Ben let out a harsh cry and let his sword drop from his hand. Rushing to Ben Michael swiped the blade at the short man in front of him, leaving a gash across his chest that split through the cloth of the man's shirt.

The short man with the ax stumbled and took the blade of the ax and hacked at Michael again, bringing the sharp blade down in a silver arch. Dodging the ax Michael took the flat side of his sword and brought it down on the man with the low voice's hand, forcing him to drop of the peculiar weapon that crashed on the ground. With the bright flame of madness in his eyes, the short man with the low voice lunged forward with a snarl as he jumped at Michael, bringing pale hands to his throat.

Letting out a chocking gasp Michael raised up a hand and sent down a blow on the artery leading up and down on the man's neck. Suddenly the burning lights in the man's eyes went out as he stumbled away and collapsed on the ground. Shocked that what he had done worked Michael stepped away and took a few steps back. Reclaiming the sword he had dropped, Michael brought the blade up to the short man's neck when he felt something pull him backwards.

Flying back Michael felt himself get thrown into a tree and he watched as pale hands slammed into his chest. Crumpling to the ground Michael looked up and could see the large reflective eyes of the tall man starring down at him. Letting out several hacking coughs Michael watched as the tall man took ahold of his shirt and pulled him forwards, towards the ground. At the same time the taller man also stomped down on Michael's back, pinning him to the ground.

It was at this time Ben managed to get himself up. Looking towards Michael he rushed forward with his sword out, twisting the sword around he aimed the hilt at the tall man's head. Bringing it down with a crash Ben watched as the tall man fell to his side, dazed and with a blank look in his eyes. In a brief burst of anger Ben kicked the man in the gut, knocking the wind out of him and then broke the man's nose by kicking him directly in the face.

Managing to get himself up, Michael looked to see that the place where the shorter man had collapsed was now empty. Before he could say anything, however, he felt a blade swipe along his arm, ripping through the backpack strap and leaving a shallow gash on his arm. Turning around Michael saw the figure of the shorter man just as he felt his backpack fly off and crash on the ground, spilling its contents. Brandishing a sword Michael strode towards the man and brought the sword down.

The shorter man blocked it with the ax and had a wicked grin splitting his pale face. But then he stopped and a look of surprise sprang in his eyes as he let out a scream. Stumbling backwards the man collapsed to the ground face first to show an arrow embedded in his neck, now on the ground Michael looked back to see Kurt behind the man with his bow still aimed at the empty space the man had been. Taking a few steps back Michael looked around to see Ben had went over to the tall man and now had the blade of the sword placed over the tall man's neck.

"What are you?" Ben questioned the taller man, for a few seconds the taller man did nothing but look up at Ben with large bulging eyes that had taken on a light blue color.

"Uoy yortsed lliw dnah kcalb eht, uoy emusnoc inga…" the taller man whispered, and then very slowly managed to reach for his own shoulder where he pulled up his sleeve to show two tattoos on his pale skin. There was one of the Black Hand, and while it seemed to almost be a brand it was identical to what Michael and Ben has seen before; and then there was another one above the Black Hand which was a bright red flame with the words "_Agni Ignis_" scripted over it.

"What?" Ben asked, a bit unnerved by what the man had just hissed out, before he could return to his questioning the taller man rolled aside and jumped up. Quickly punching Ben in the jaw the taller man let out a bizarre laugh as he watched Ben stagger over and crash onto the ground. Scooping up the fallen hunting knife the man turned around to see Michael and started to step towards him, he brought the hunting knife at an angle when realization hit him.

Where was Kurt?

Before he could even stop his run towards Michael the taller man felt a pain exploded in his back and he let out a high pitched scream as he fell forward. Feeling heavy liquid running down his back the taller man twisted around to see Kurt standing over him tossing away an ax now glistening red away in disgust. Now collapsed on the ground the taller man started to twitch as he started to let out several coughs, watching as blood started to flow from his mouth.

Michael looked down in horror at the taller man who was looking at him with those large blue eyes. Those eyes started to swivel around and started to scan over the stuff that had been dropped out of Michael's backpack. Not knowing what to do Michael jumped back when the taller man started to gurgle something and pulled up the Black Hand invitation from the mess. Just before fading off the man was able to get out two words as the slip of parchment fell from his fingers.

"_You're the… you're the…_," and with that the man fell limp on the ground with a horrid wound in his back.

Kurt walked over to the dead man and very slowly picked up the paper imprinted with the Black Hand. "So you're _not_ part of the Black Hand? Is that right Michael?" Kurt asked and brandished the parchment. "A stranger in a strange land, huh?" Kurt asked as he read from the manuscript under the black palm print. "But I guess you can't be," Kurt coughed and let the parchment drop to the ground to join the rest of Michael's stuff.

Michael, who had been standing as still as a statue, let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah," he began, "if Ben and I were a part of the Black Hand then… they-" Michael felt a bit sick in mentioning the two corpses "-wouldn't have attacked us."

"Yes," Kurt said simply, "speaking of which," he stepped over to Ben. Looking down at Ben who had passed out from the blow to the side of his head, Kurt started to search through his satchel. Finding what he was looking for he pulled out his own water bottle, still dusty from dropping it on the ground, and twisted off the cap. Putting the NMTC water bottle over Ben's face he turned it completely over and let a stream of cool water splash over Ben's face.

"Time to wake up sleepy," Kurt said mockingly as he placed the now empty water bottle back in his satchel. Ben, who was spluttering, spat out water and started to look around a bit like a gopher coming from its hole.

Wiping water from his eyes Ben looked up at Kurt, "why would you do that," Ben said and let out a short string of curses as he picked himself up. Getting up Ben looked at the two bodies and a look of disgust started to spread over his face, "oh shit…" Looking back at Michael who had been trying to suppress a laugh during that and was picking up all the fallen items, Ben rolled his eyes. "Need any help with that?" he asked and Ben started to help him as Kurt was starting to make his way through the trees.

It was better to not hover over what had just happened; laughter is always a good thing…

_(=I=)_

**A/N: I just looked over this and, uh…, I wrote most of this at like two in the morning so that's why it's kinda well its kinda weird. But! There will be a bit of humor in this series, and in fact when things really start to get moving there may be some really funny moments. So anyways if any of you guys who read this want to like PM about theories you might have (concerning the Black Hand, the Man in Black, the NMTC, etc.) go ahead!**

**Oh, and next time Kurt will show you his life's work and may hint a bit more on this "Audrey" that you heard of this chapter. Truthfully this might explain some stuff but at the same time may raise another question. But, for now, I will see you in the next chapter!**


	16. Chapter Fourteen: Past and Present

**A/N: Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet! Well, so now you're gonna get a little bit of an explanation for things, or at least theories that Kurt has (that are pretty much correct). And there may also be a bit of a flashback, hopefully stuff will begin to make a bit of sense after this, if not I'll answer any questions as long as there aren't any spoilers. Other than that enjoy the episode (and the next chapter will be a very good chapter, I think you guys will like it).**

**(Oh, this will make sense when you finish reading but: there's going to be some music in this, it may seem really abrupt and out of place but the radio station it's coming from will be important later on. Just wanted to let you guys know)**

_(=I=)_

He flickered his eyes open. He looked up to see the beaming face of the moon. And he knew that something was wrong. Sitting up the man rubbed sleep from his eyes and looked down at himself; clad in a slightly dirt business suit the man could feel stubble on his face and could already see a few locks of hair coming down into his eyes. Looking around the man could see he was definitely not in the right place for a suit and dark dress shoes, he seemed to be in a forest.

Adjusting his glasses the man looked around to see that there was nothing around but the tall dark sentinels of trees cropped around him. Not knowing what to do the man looked around for anything and suddenly became aware that a few feet away something was pegged to one of the tall tree trunks. Very slowly making his way towards the shape he could see that it was, in fact, a very simple military style backpack with a strange logo on it.

Further inspection showed the man that the logo read NMTC and that sticking from one of the side pockets of the backpack was a slip of parchment. Looking around for the possible owner of the backpack the man cautiously took the slip of parchment from the backpack and unfolded it, revealing a single word scratched in with blue ink. Written in a slightly scratchy handwriting was the word REGARDS which seemed to be addressed to him, there didn't seem to be anyone else around.

Pulling the backpack from the tree the man in the suit looked inside and could see that inside there was a large amount of items. There was a strange orb that seemed to be some kind of radio, a small amount of bandages and gauze, a water bottle with NMTC on the label, and at the very bottom a strange package wrapped up like a present. Crinkling his brow at the odd assortment of items the man looked around to see if whoever had posted the backpack had left anything else.

Upon finding nothing, the man listened to the cold night air and slightly shivered in his suit. There was the slight breath of wind as it whispered mass him and filtered through the trees, twisting through the branches with hushed sighs. Following the direction of the wind the man could hear the gentle beat of the ocean waves washing over the sandy shore that was apparently very near. Drifting from between the tree trunks like the wind itself the man eventually found himself stepping over a small sprout of underbrush and onto a beach.

He looked up and down the beach, nothing. There was not a single light anywhere and it seemed that man had never even touched the

place he was in now. Not knowing what to do the man started to walk down the beach looking around to see anything he could see, but the beach and the sea remained empty. Something about this seemed wrong, the way his dress shoes were making prints in the sand was almost otherworldly, how would a man all dressed up end up in the wild?

Looking down at himself the man observed that he wasn't very suitable for the wild. He had no tan whatsoever and had no muscle at all to his form. The only thing that seemed the man had to advantage was his height, he seemed to be almost six feet tall but seemed to be oddly stretched because he was so skinny. Shaking his head the man continued down the beach, occasionally looking up at the star filled sky, like diamonds thrown on black silk.

After walking down the beach for a while the man became aware that he was feeling very sleepy and he kept his head bent down with sleep pulling at his eyelids. It was because of this he wasn't looking up at the dark night sky when a few meteors started to fly past, scratching fine lines of fire against the blackness. Just as soon as they appeared they winked out, but it was the first of many…

_(=I=)_

Michael was surprised when he watched Kurt spin around and fire an arrow at Ben. Ben, letting out a small scream, crumpled to one side as the arrow flung past, ripping apart the air. About to take in a breath to tell Kurt off Michael spun his head around and watched as the gleaming flint head continued to pass through the air with a sharp splitting sound. It then embedded itself in the undead that had been about to rush Ben, the undead let out a growl and fell backwards.

"We're lucky," Kurt said, "the noise made during that battle could've attracted a lot more than the couple behind us," he said flatly as he unloaded three more arrows. One of which whistled by Michael's ear and sounded like a small explosive had been slammed next to his eardrum, letting out a small cry Michael instinctively drew out his sword. Spinning around Michael watched as all three arrows hit their marks, right through the forehead or the necks of the advancing undead.

"I need one of you to take on the remaining five, I can't do everything," Kurt said simply and started to advance through the trees. But, when seeing Michael and Ben's shocked faces, took aim and quickly unloaded two arrows which whistled through the air and hit two of the five advancing dead.

Looking at the three undead speeding towards them Ben took out his sword and quickly rushed towards one of them. Slicing off the arm at the elbow down in one strike, Ben then kicked the thing back and let his hands slide towards the hilt of the sword. When the undead approached again Ben brought the hilt down in a heavy blow that cracked the exposed skull of the undead and caused it to fall over dead.

Michael was also busy with one of the advancing dead, sending the sharp blade into the side of the thing with the sound of shattering ribs. Kicking the thing Michael then sent the blade of his sword through the weak exposed collarbone of the undead, which was crushed to powder by the blow. Taking the flat end of the sword Michael raised it quickly above his head and brought it down on the head where it made a slightly wet crack, causing the thing to falter almost in a bizarre dance before collapsing.

Looking back at Ben, Michael watched as Ben swung the sword upwards slicing off the thing's left arm. Quickly sliding in Michael held the sword at his side and let it charge forward and cleave clean through the thing's right foot. When it collapsed it was Ben who then sent his own sword crashing through the thing's side. Letting out a strange gurgle the thing then went limp along with the five other now scattered around the ground.

Wiping his sword clean on the ground Michael placed it back in its loop and started to walk with Ben the direction Kurt had been heading towards. Suddenly a strange thought seemed to come to his mind and he turned to Ben, "hey Ben?" Michael asked, crinkling his brow as the thought came to him.

"Yes?"

"Have you noticed that there's like no birds chirping or anything. And that there's not any like bug or anything. Like I haven't seen like a squirrel or a raccoon or anything, have you?"

"No, that's kind of weird. Like there are no birds or anything," Ben murmured and then a strange thought came to his head, "and like the one time I slept like I had a weird dream."

"Yeah, I remember having this really weird dream. It was like-" Michael began but suddenly Kurt's voice cut through.

"Found it, apparently they didn't burn down my home before coming out to meet us," Kurt's voice stated, rushing forward Michael and Ben found themselves at the bust station again with the curtain still pulled open. They watched as Kurt ducked inside the strange fortification he had made and placed his satchel on the counter, opening the leather top exposing his name written on the inside of the flap. Quickly folding up a few NMTC newspapers Kurt placed them neatly inside along with a small ivory necklace.

"So I believe you want to know what is going on here?" Kurt questioned and when both Ben and Michael almost in unison said yes he pulled out a small black notebook with NMTC stamped on the cover. "For a while I have made is my goal to find out what has happened here and when I went to Grimdale I found newspapers and journals detailing what had happened. And I can explain if you want," Kurt said as he dropped the notebook into his satchel.

"Yes, yes if you know what's going on that would be… that would be perfect," Ben said a bit eagerly and Michael quickly nodded in agreement.

"Well it seems that a while ago, perhaps twenty years at the most, this place was once a very simplistic place of farmers. I do not know how but somehow there was a large industrial revolution which was headed by something called the North Maine Trading Company. It seemed the major advancements in technology was made and produced by this NMTC, which is most likely why all 'advance' things are labeled with them. For some reason they enlisted the help of the 'lower people' in various research stations.

"The reason the orientation film we saw was animated and why everything seemed to be explained like how something would be explained to a child is probably because the 'lower people' were on nowhere near the same level as the NMTC. Again, I do not know how or why the North Maine Trading Company came into existence but it changed the world. They seemed to help advance the world and in return they would take some of the 'lower men' and experiment.

"In one of their labs, the Byesford Project, they seemed to be conducting experiments to make a form of super-soldiers. This is just a guess since nowhere does it even state the NMTC has anything to do with it, but I think one of the experiments went wrong at Byesford. In making a 'super-soldier' they may have caused a madness in the brain that caused the Collapse. The Collapse supposedly started near Byesford and was when the entire world fell into chaos as the walking dead started to roam the entire world.

I'm not sure what happened to North Maine Trading Center but it seems most of their stations have been claimed by others and they seemed to have completely disappeared. That is all I know," Kurt stopped, ending his brief narrative.

"Well," Michael began confused, "what about-?" then he stopped and twirled around. Looking around into the forest Michael searched for where _it_ was coming from. But there seemed to be no source but it was getting louder.

_(=I=)_

The man woke up with a start. Staring into the rising sun he looked around the beach, now thrown in the flood of daylight. He had gotten rid of tie before going to sleep and had also shed his black suit, leaving a white button-up undershirt. Bundling up the suit he had used it as a makeshift pillow during the night when he eventually fell asleep. Now awake, the man looked up the beach in search of anything; but still he saw nothing but the sandy strip leading to the west.

Awkwardly putting the backpack on the man pulled his makeshift pillow off the ground and placed it inside before starting down the beach again. Walking down again the man started to walk a straight line down the beach, as close as the water as he could get without getting hit with the waves; it was because of this he almost missed the other set of footprints that were heading down the beach. Only because of a flickering shadow of perhaps one of the undead passing by that caused the man to look up the beach at the tracks. Still continuing walking down the sandy strip the man made sure he was following the footprints.

Eventually looking directly ahead of himself the man could see a dark shape farther down the beach. Putting a hand over his head, mostly because the sun was now hung at midday at its zenith, the man squinted at the shape and tried to make out what it was. Whatever it was, it was a large shadow that seemed to be on the very edge of the beach itself, after that it seemed the beach dipped into the grimy green ocean and rose up again on the other side as swamplands.

Quickening his pace down the beach the man watched as the squat shadow came closer and closer, becoming more and more into the low-roofed building then the black brick it had been. He watched as cracked windows came into view and the shape of a small single-room store came into view. Approaching the man watched as the footsteps he had found on the beach twisted off towards the store making a strange arc of footprints in the sand heading towards the store.

Nearing the dilapidated store the man could see that graffiti had been sprawled on the side of the store, twisting between the window frames and making strange messages. Most of them were scripted in strange red and black fonts displaying weird messages such as: _C.F. RULES! R.G. IS BACK! DOWN WITH NMTC! SEVEN EARTHLY GLOBES! WARE THE LONE WANDERER! READ MORE RICHARD BACHMAN! A KING IN RED! _among many other messages. Frowning as the man approached he could see some of words seemed to be scratched into the wall, many of the messages seemed incomplete and meant nothing to him.

Heading to the front of the store the man could see that there was a sign posted next to the front door and under one of the two shattered windows, looking onwards like sad eyes. In bold letters the sign read: "Last Supplies Since Kaocho!" and seemed to be the only thing around, whatever Kaocho was—it was nowhere to be found. Still studying the sign the man could see that the window above it and the one on the other side of the main entrance was boarded up, it seemed like it closed in a hurry.

Opening the front door, the man peered inside to see an equally dilapidated inside with what may have been shelves busted and thrown on the floor. Supplies that may have been posted around the store were scattered about among a few puddles of dirty water that had filled the areas where red and black tiles had peeled up. A few speakers were still in the corners, covered by dust and cobwebs and by the broken slab of the counter was a radio with a trailing wire coming from it.

Carefully stepping over to the counter the man reached for the strange radio just as there was the quick snap of one of the remaining shelves collapsed. Jumping the man felt his arm swing into the radio where it fell over and flipped itself on, causing the speakers in the store to let out a sharp buzz before a song came flowing from the speakers.

"_-ind of music!  
Sing your own special song!_

_Make your own kind of music!  
Even if nobody else sings along!"_

The music flowed out slightly distorted and filled with static and seemed to bomb around the store and the man fell over in shock as it bounced from the walls. For a few seconds the music faded in and out of static before the final verse of the song blasted out and rang in the man's ears as he tried to shut the radio off.

"_-if you must be going,_

_I will understand…_

_You gotta,_

_Make your own kind of music!_

_Sing your own special song!_

_Make your own kind of music!_

_Even if nobody else sings along!_

_You gotta,_

_Make your own kind of music!_

_Sing your own spec-"_

Muting the radio the man looked to see that the radio had been switched to station 108.23 before being shut down. Staring down at it the man cast his gaze over to behind the counter. There was something left behind that had been pushed against the wall.

_(=I=)_

"Well, what about-" Ben watched Michael asked when suddenly he saw Michael snap towards the forest and started looking for something. Following his gaze Ben started to hear it too, whispers coming from the forest in hushed voices that seemed to float towards the three travelers. Soft voices and heavy calls seemed to rush over each other and filled the air causing the three to rush forward, away from the strange voices that was filling the air.

"_Watch them, they think that they're in control…_"

"_Can we trust them…?_"

"_They gotta do something…_"

"_Quick! Before they see…"_

"_Have they seen us?_"

"_We gotta go, before they…_"

_"Did they see us? Did they see us?"_

_ "He wants two of them…_"

"_Don't they know the Black Hand is…?_"

"_Quick, go behind the trees! They can only hear…_"

Michael, Ben, and Kurt rushed away; heading further down the road as the whispers hovered and floated around the ancient bus stop until the three were gone. When taking a quick glance backwards Ben noticed the air seemed to be hazy as if in a heat wave but at the same time seemed to be blurred. He wasn't sure but Ben thought that it seemed the curtain seemed to shift as if something passed through it, and perhaps was actually taken down but he was already too far away.

_(=I=)_

The man looked at the strange object behind the counter. Carefully picking it up by its one leather strap the man let it drop on the counter and he suddenly remembered something. Unslinging the backpack from one shoulder the man looked inside at the small box he had woken up with, the small package wrapped like a present. Placing it on the cracked counter the man undid the lacing and saw that other than that it was a simple cardboard box.

Opening it the man looked inside to see a small black notebook with the words NMTC printed on the cover. Carefully taking it from the box the man opened the front cover to see that inside was the words: _To my Dearest:_" but the name was left blank, aside from that the small notebook was empty. Brushing the few locks of hair that draped into his eyes the man looked back in the box to find something else inside, a small ivory necklace with a glass orb on the end.

Crinkling his brow the man also inspected the object he found in the store, a small leather satchel with the letters _FLOB_ stitched on to it. Opening the flap the man could see that on the inside was a small space of whiteness for a name, looking around the man could see that by the counter was a dusty pen. Placing it on the white the man scribbled the first letter several times of his name before the ink started flowing, and then in all capitals the man wrote his name: KURT.

_(=I=)_

**A/N: So when Kurt woke up he was perfectly sane and normal and was wearing a suit! What happened? Who's Audrey? Why did the whispers start? What are the whispers? What are Randall and Peter doing through all this? And, most importantly: WHAT IS THE BLACK HAND? These are questions that will be answered… eventually. Until then we will be focusing on Kurt's past. Oh! And in the following episodes two more characters will be added. Make sure to leave a review, an OC, and perhaps add to your favs? Or not, either way just the fact that someone is reading this is good enough :) I will see you guys in the next chapter! **

**P.S. Next chapter will be pretty… interesting. I think that what I'm gonna do is a pretty interesting storytelling method.**

**P.S.S. :P I don't own the song used in the chapter, "Make Your Own Kind of Music" by Cass Elliot (1969)**


	17. Chapter Fifteen: Talk of the Vagabonds

**A/N: Hey guys I know it's been two months and I AM SO VERY, VERY SORRY. But a lot of complicated things happened but now I'm back on top of things! I promise that for now on I will try and tell you ahead of time if I'm taking a hiatus (which I will only do if something serious happens) so for any of you still reading here comes a new batch of MineZ!**

**So we last left off with Michael and party going down a mysterious road to the elusive Grimdale which is only a swallow's flight away! Not only that but the mysterious Black Hand and the vague NMTC (totally not based off the DHARMA Initiative, ahem) are back as well. By the "season two" part of this story a whole cast of colorful characters should be a part of our journey as well. So here we go!**

**_(=I=)_**

"_-I think about it,_

_Every now and then!_

_Every time I try,_

_And every time I win!_

_And if I ever have a son…_

_I think I'll name him after you!"_

As the song ended a brief burst of static came from the radio. As a few buzzing sounds flickered out between waves of white noise another song started to play. Fading away a voice with a Southern accent was able to come through the speakers and quickly spoke as a few notes started to drift through.

"For any of y'all listening this next one is gonna be a real old one. Hope y'all like it," the voice announced and then cutting off with a sharp hiss the song started to play. Growing stronger through the faint static the first few notes flowed through the speakers of the radio. Then like a gunshot a voice blasted through singing a long forgotten melody created a very long time ago.

"_Wash away my troubles,_

_Wash away my pain,_

_With the rain in Shambala!_

_Wash away my sorrow,_

_Wash away my shame,_

_With the rain in Shambala!_

_Ah, oh-ooooo!_

_Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah!_

_Ah, oh-ooooo!_

_Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah!_

_Everyone is helpful,_

_Everyone is kind,_

_On the road to Shambala!_

_Everyone is lucky,_

_Everyone is so kind,_

_On the road to Shambala!"_

As they walked down the road Kurt pushed down the volume button with a small click and listened to the bright and cheery song become a whisper. Still fumbling with the strange radio he had found so long ago Kurt looked up to see Michael and Ben were already farther ahead. Switching the radio off entirely Kurt opened the satchel on his waste and dropped it in before running up to meet the two vagabonds ahead of him.

"Planning on leaving me behind?" Kurt asked the two who stopped and looked back at him.

"Course not," Ben said with a slight smile. Pausing, he quickly pulled out his NMTC-brand water bottle and took a swig as he started down the road again. Quickly screwing on the lid again he looked back at Kurt, "it's just that I kind of want to distance myself from whatever was back there," he said and continued on.

"Yeah whatever actually happened back there," Michael chimed in as he pulled an apple from his backpack, "have any idea what those whispers are? I mean you seem to know a lot about this place already."

"No, I have no idea what any of that was about," Kurt said as he stood beside Ben, "I've been living in this place for the past four years and I've never seen or heard anything like that. You two seem to be a magnet for bizarre things," he then dug up a chunk of bread and offered it to Ben.

"No thanks," Ben said and while Kurt quickly downed it Ben turned with a sudden memory sparking; "hey have you ever seen something like a man in black? Like really tall and kind of malevolent?" he asked rather bluntly. He looked to see that Kurt was had a water bottle half up to his mouth when he stopped and looked back at his two new companions.

"Have you seen this 'Man in Black,' Michael?" Kurt asked and with a nod he raised an eyebrow. "Since you two got here have you been eating any of the mushrooms that are kind of lying about? Because that's not really suggested…"

"Oh no, no of course not," Michael stammered, "it's just that we have seen a lot of bizarre things since we woke up and we just kind of thought that everybody was seeing something like that. But maybe we should try and see where we're heading exactly since we've just been walking down this road for what feels like months."

"Well I thought we were heading for Grimdale," Ben said, "since you have that little journal thing. And since this is the Grimdale road."

"I guess but since we have someone else I figured we should probably double check," Michael said and then focused his gaze on Kurt who was busy inspecting an old journal with NMTC stamped on it.

"Grimdale? Well I stayed there for a few months; it would be a good place to stop by before heading out," he coughed out as he downed the rest of his water bottle.

"Actually," Ben said rather shyly, "I was kind of thinking that we would actually stay in Grimdale and try and find out what's going on."

"Well yeah that's what I was thinking," Michael thought for a second, "where would we be 'heading out' to?"

"Over the Hill," Kurt coughed as he flickered through a few dusty pages, "and Grimdale is a nasty place. Since you have nothing but leather boots and chest plates you wouldn't last long there. Since I was there the place has been filling up with bandits and thieves, all looking for whatever this "Black Hand" is."

"Well as Grimdale seems to be a lovely place to go to now you kind of glossed over the whole 'Over the Hill' thing. What is that exactly?" Michael enquired, for some reason this "Over the Hill" place seemed to be important.

"According to the rumors I've heard it's the third best place in the world," Kurt said, "apparently it's a town constructed after the Collapse; built by the people who woke up here like us. It's full of resources but is almost impossible to find. Some say that the only way you can find it is if someone who lives there leads you in," Kurt said, spinning one of the many legends that accompanied the land.

"Well I guess we won't be able to really find it," Ben sighed as he walked down the road listening to the crunch of gravel under his feet.

"For now we're just gonna go to Grimdale and hope to find something else out in the wild?" Michael asked and turned to face Kurt.

"Well I was under the impression you were the leader Michael, unless that's wrong then you should probably decide what we should do," Kurt murmured as he readjusted the leather strap of his satchel.

"Alright," Michael almost whispered, "well we should probably try and find a place to sleep for the night. Since you know a bit more about this place then Ben and I do, if there a place we could rest nearby?"

For a few seconds a strange look quickly stormed over Kurt's face like a dismal thunder storm that quickly passed over. Taking in a breath Kurt turned to Michael and Ben; "no I don't believe there is a place nearby we could rest. Not to my knowledge anyways, truthfully we should keep moving and try and spend as much daytime as we have left to try and get to the city."

"Well, alright then," Ben said and moved forward along with Michael down the road. Kurt, however, was moving at his same face lagging behind as a troubling thought came into his mind. As he watched the forest become an old familiar setting he could feel an ancient memory stirring in the back of his mind, he quickly shook it away.

For a while as the sun finally dropped from the horizon, Kurt walked by himself and watched as Michael and Ben discuss something. As they continued on Kurt lost himself in his own thoughts and tried his best to try and push the memory into the back of his mind. Listening to nothing but the steady crunch of gravel under his feet Kurt remained silent and simply kept pushing himself forward until he heard Ben's surprised voice. Snapping his head up he could see that Ben who was a few feet ahead of him was pointing at something down the road.

"How did that get there?" Michael questioned. In the silver gleam of the moon Michael could see that a strange shape was jutting from the road. Coming closer he could see that it was actually something slammed into and sticking up from the gravel road, a strange kind of tool. Coming right up to it he could see that it was a rusty iron pickax with the head thrust in the ground, running up it side was a very strange scratch and also splashes of dried blood.

"Don't know but it looked like someone just left it behind in a hurry," Ben remarked as he stepped towards it. Carefully kicking it with his foot he watched as the blade came up from the ground with a cough of gravel. "They were probably being chased by one of those things, zombies I guess."

"Well it certainly seems to be an odd thing to have when surviving in the forest," Michael murmured, "and why was it just sticking up from the ground?"

"I guess it's just something that happened, can't really do anything about it," Ben suggested and then with a heavy leather boot he kicked it away. Glinting in the moonlight the pickax skidded off and hit a tree trunk bouncing off into shadow with a dull sense of unimportance. "But that could be something we could inspect," he said as he looked off into the left side of the road.

"What do you-" Michael followed Ben's gaze off to the left and could see that there was a stretch of underbrush between two of the trees. Just visible inside a parting was a small clearing encircled with small trees, it was almost like a ditch hidden under the tree line. Also visible from the split in the underbrush was a small part of two tents standing in the small clearing; old and faded but still useable.

"Well that was a pretty lucky break," Michael murmured to himself. Suddenly he looked around, "uh… Kurt?"

Both Ben and Michael started to look up and down the road for Kurt who seemed to have vanished. "Oh! Well there he is," Ben called to Michael and pointed to Kurt who was standing behind one of the trees that stopped over the road. In the weak moonlight that filtered through the branches the two vagabonds could see their companion was looking at something. Something on the back of the tree.

Kurt, who had ignored his two companions for the past few minutes, was now inspecting the back of a tree. Quietly while still hidden by shadow he had peeled away a small opening in the bark. Pulling back the bark with a small snap he could see a small dark hollow in the tree and quickly grabbed something from the darkness. When he could heard Michael and Ben approach he quickly dropped the small object into his pocket.

Turning to face Michael and Ben, Kurt cleared his throat, "I'm sorry. I thought I saw some kind of relic here. It must've just been the way the shadows looked." Taking a few steps back on the road he faced a quite Ben and Michael and crossed his hands behind his back. "So, I heard that you found some kind of place to stay?"

"Um… yeah we did," Ben explained as the tree walked to the opening in the underbrush, "it seems to be a couple of tents. Seems to be a good place to spend the night, unless you want to keep moving…?"

Another strange look thundered over Kurt's face and it almost seemed he was wincing. However he snapped out of it and shook his head, "no, we don't need to keep moving," he said. "This will be fine," Kurt said and quickly dashed through the opening in the underbrush, stumbling into the small clearing. "Seeing as it is late," Kurt breathed out as he quickly made his way to the small tent on the right, "I will be heading to bed, goodnight."

With that Kurt vanished into his tent and left Michael and Ben in a state of utter confusion. Left with a single remaining tent Michael and Ben quickly exchanged glances. "So, I guess one of us should probably keep watch and the other can, can be in the tent until we switch? Think that'll work?" Michael asked.

"Uh… yeah sure," Ben agreed, "I guess I'll take the first watch. When should we switch…?" Ben asked.

"Well do you have one of those radio things?" Michael questioned.

"Umm… yeah, do you think they would have a clock on it?"

"Worth a shot, right?"

"I guess," Ben murmured and slipped his backpack off and quickly opened it up. Peering into its depths he fumbled around with the strange spherical radio until he pulled it out. Slinging the backpack on, Ben immediately started to work with the radio, quickly turning it on and feeling the surface for any kind of button. Pressing on several areas of the glass like sphere Ben then found one next to the black flaw which sank down with a clink.

"Did you get it?" Michael asked as Ben pressed the strange button. Before anything else could be said both of them immediate focused on the spherical radio which was crying out some kind mechanical whine. Suddenly from the very core of the globe a blue light flashed two times and then after a pause it flashed twelve more times.

"Umm…," Ben gawked at the radio as the whine receded and looked up at Michael, "I guess its 2:12," he said simply.

"Yeah I guess," Michael murmured and immediately took out his own radio as he walked towards the remaining tent. "When it reads 4:12 wake me up and then we can leave at 6-ish. Hopefully by tomorrow we can make it Grimdale," pressing down the same area Michael watched as the radio flashed out 2:13. "Goodnight," Michael said as he started to go inside the tent, "and remember: 4:12."

"Alright," Ben said as he started to look around. Just as his gaze passed over the road in front of him he could hear the wind moan against the trees. Shivering he knew it would be a long night.

_(=I=)_

In his tent Kurt sat strewn on the remainders of a sleeping bag. Placing the radio in the corner Kurt brought out the thing he had taken from the tree, a small black box. Biting his lip he shook his head and placed the box at his side and immediately turned his attention to the radio.

Turning it on he turned it to channel 108.23 and had the volume on low, making the song that was playing creep through the air in a whisper. As he turned his attention back to the box the voice of a man with a Southern accent started to drift through the air and floated off into the night.

"Definitely the night for quietness isn't it? I can see them walkin' fellas roaming out my window so things are going to be quiet for a bit. I know this may seem pointless to some of you but its better then doin' nothing. And here we go…" as the voice faded out into static a song started to play.

"_Shed a tear 'cause I'm missing you,_

_I'm still alright to smile,_

_Girl, I think about you every day now,_

'_Was a time when I wasn't sure,_

_But you set my mind at ease,_

_There is no doubt you're in my heart now,_

_Said woman take it slow,_

_I'll work itself out fine_

_All we need is a little…_

_Patience…_"

_(=I=)_

Slowly Kurt opened up the small black box and bite down on his lip as memories flared up in his mind. With his other hand he opened up his palm and gently let the two objects in the black box fall in his hands. Through the small hole above him a pale beam of moonlight bounced off the objects. As a few tears rolled down his cheeks Kurt curled his hands around the objects.

As Kurt remembered bitter memories the word "patience" slowly echoed out and faded into the night.

_(=I=)_

**A/N: Hey guys I am SO VERY VERY VERY SORRY for the mega-pause. I swear I won't do that again or if something does come up I will tell you guys beforehand and try to get the story at a good stopping point first. Sorry for the awkwardness in this chapter by the way, I have to get back into the style again. More chapters will come out again and I swear I am VERY SORRY for not updating in two months. I would also like to say thank you for anyone who is still sticking with the story, you guys are amazing. See you in the next chapter.**

**P.S. Songs used:**

"**A Boy Named Sue" by Johnny Cash (1969)**

"**Shambala" by Three Night Dog (1973)**

"**Patience" by Guns N' Roses (1989)**


	18. Chapter Sixteen: Whispering of Visitants

**A/N: Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet! Is that the line? Okay yeah I think so. I haven't written that in a pretty long time so yeah. Anyways just to make a bit of a note on the vast amount of music I'm going to use on this: you should seriously look it up. Like really, they're all really awesome songs. At the end of the "season" I guess I'll call it I'll put a list up of all the songs used and where to find them (you know, like on YouTube :P). **

**Anyways, off to the story!**

**_(=I=)_**

The radio blared out a song that thundered in the small space. The man that had his fingers gripped on the steering wheel floored the accelerator and listened to the motor let out a roar, rocketing the heavy van forward. Swinging his gaze from the rear view mirror to the windshield he could see the gravel road fly by, getting sucked underneath the van as it continued forward. He knew that he had to get to the NMTC'S last stronghold before it was too late, before that thing behind him caught up.

The high pitch crying of the violin continued to pump out of the radio that the man was continuing to ignore; it was the last thing on his mind.

"_**-sit down in that chair right there,**_

_**And let me show you how it's done!**_

_**Fire on the mountain,**_

_**Run boys, run!**_

_**Devil's in the House of the Rising Sun!"**_

Ironically the closest thing the man had ever seen to the devil was currently chasing his van and approaching fast. Squinting at the mirror he could see the dark shape come closer faster than humanly possible, and it seemed to be having no trouble at all catching up. It was faster than the walking dead that the man had heard come out of the Byesford and it also seemed to be perfectly alive, in fact its dark lips moved as it called out.

Through the howling wind and the screaming of the radio the man could hear the voice perfectly, smooth and dark like oil floating into his ears. "Come on Johnny, I know you can't run forever!" the dark figure yelled as it chased after him, "and the Fortress has already fallen—no use trying to drive there!"

With bright eyes that were burning with fear the man willed the van to go forward but it was already going a good ninety eight miles, and with all the weight in the back there was nothing he could do. Looking up at the rear view mirror again he could see the thing running for him which was now a few feet away from the bumper of the black wagon was looking at him, smiling. Letting out a shriek the man looked up just in time to see the road twist and to see the tree he was speeding towards.

_(=I=)_

"We have to go now!" Michael screamed as he tumbled from his tent causing Ben who was leaning against a tree to jump up in surprise. Already with a blade out Michael started to look around as Ben came towards him and Kurt emerged from his own tent. "We have to go, get everything packed up!" Michael ordered as he placed a few items back into his backpack, looking up at the confused faces of Kurt and Ben he hissed at them, "come on!"

"What's going on?" Kurt asked, "why do we have to leave?"

"Because we're being followed!" Michael asked, "and they're close to us now!" And with that an arrow shot by, ripping through the air and tearing into Ben's shoulder before burying itself in the trunk of a tree. "Come on!" Michael ordered once again and grabbed Ben by his good arm and pulled him forward.

Kurt shot a look back at the thick crop of underbrush where the arrow had come from and watched as another arrow started to fly through the air. In a flash Kurt was able to bring up the small black journal he had in his satchel and watched as the arrow smashed through it, stopping a few inches away from his face. Staring distastefully at it he chucked the journal back at the underbrush and watched as a form suddenly jumped up in surprise.

For the first time in the past three years Kurt looked in surprise at the figure as he pulled a bow and arrow out. "You," he gasped as he started to walk back towards the path where Michael and Ben had gone to.

"Me," the figure said with a wide grin but Kurt had already turned away and was running for Michael and Ben who had just made it to the road. As they slipped away into the night the figure turned back to the tall man still ducked in the underbrush, "let's go Peter, we can't let them escape!"

"Whatever you say Randall," Peter replied as he jumped up with a curved sword already in his hands.

_(=I=)_

"What the hell?" Ben questioned as he, Michael, and Kurt ran down the ancient road, towards the elusive Grimdale hidden on the other side of the pine forest. Still nursing the graze that was now across his left shoulder Ben turned to Michael, "how did you know we were being followed? And why didn't you warn us earlier?"

"I didn't know until now," Michael said as he cast a gaze behind himself, the road behind them was empty but that didn't keep them from running.

"Well how did you figure that out? And why would those two be following you two?" Kurt cut in as he finally caught up with the two. "And great job leaving me back there," he said as they ran.

"Well," Michael began as they started to slow down, a universal fatigue spreading between the three of them, "it kind of happened when-" he stopped as he fell forward smashing on the gravel road. However he was soon joined by Kurt and Ben who had suddenly dropped to the ground. Michael flipped himself over and looked up just to see something pass above them, something that caused the air to shake and wobble.

A sudden breeze ran down the road, a strong gust of wind that hissed by and caused ancient dust on the road to be shoved outwards. Then the whispers started…

_(=I=)_

He flickered his eyes open, coughed up smoke, and felt a warm trickle of blood leak down his face. Letting out a few coughs he looked around the crushed space he was in, peering through the veils of smoke he could see the gravel road out the passenger window. Swinging his gaze to the driver side window he could see the thick trunk of a tree now splashed with a few scorch marks, the tree that he had hit.

Looking behind himself Johnny could see that the supplies he had behind him were a mess in the back of the van, everything seemed to be crushed. Cursing he weakly glanced at the watch on his wrist which read "12:43—March 1st, 2089" he then realized the he could hear something. For the first time he noticed the radio which still spat out a broken melody, even after he crashed trying to escape from that _thing_ behind him.

He looked through the passenger side window and down the gravel road to see an approaching dark figure like some strange black cut out. As it approached the radio also seemed to spit up a few verses of some song that pounded in Johnny's ears as he slowly started to fade away.

"_**Here comes the sun!**_"

He blinked and could see the dark figure hands grown closer, still a cold shadow against the gleam of the moon. It was looking at him…

"_**Here comes the sun!"**_

__The thing that had the face of man was very close now, his shadow falling on the flipped over van…

"_**And I say…"**_

The man leaned down to look through the window at Johnny and then smiled showing a line of perfectly white teeth, then it reached through the window…

"_**It's alright!"**_

… and grabbed onto Johnny's beige jumpsuit. With a sudden amount of force Johnny was forced through the window by the man, effectively breaking Johnny's right arm in the process. Now sprawled out in the cold grass Johnny looked up into the face of his attacker.

"With you being the last member of the North Maine Trading Company," the man said with a smile, "I'm going to really enjoy this."

_(=I=)_

"_Where are they, where are they?"_

_ "There's no use now!"_

_ "Anyone else gonna regret this?"_

_ "We have to go to the-"_

_ "WHAT'S IT SPELL? WHAT'S IT SPELL?"_

_ "Wasn't this where Johnny was?"_

_ "It's down the road, we just gotta keep-"_

_ "Get the _Mephisto_! He and the lackey-"_

_ "His name is what?"_

_ "-are down the-"_

_ "Henry said not to!"_

_ "-road!"_

The torrent of whispers continued to fly through the air with a rush of cold air causing Michael to clamp his eyes shut until he could feel the strong wind pass. Opening his eyes he looked up to see the strange distortions in the air were gone and so were the whispers, however down the road he could see tree branches getting pushed back by something. He could see some kind of force push its way down the road and towards two figures far down the gravely road.

Watching the two figures down the road Michael could see as they came to a halt as the unseen force pushed its way towards them. They stopped and looked forwards but not at Michael or Ben or Kurt but at something that only they could see that was speeding right towards them. In fact Michael could see that they were almost running away from the thing and seemed to be picked up into the air- but then Michael found that his eyes were clamped shut.

Suddenly he could hear what seemed to white noise before he could open his eyes again. When he finally was able to look again he could see that the road was empty, a dull patch of darkness in the night. Slowly he got up along with Ben and Kurt and looked around; the entire road seemed to be lifeless with the night around them being absolutely still.

It was still until the undead started to lumber through the trees and focused pale eyes on the three. A few of them let out a roar as they started to charge forward, and just as they started to run Michael could hear one final whisper.

_"I told you it was a bad idea."_

_(=I=)_

Randall looked around as white noise continued to ring in his ears. Letting out a few coughs he looked around to see Peter on the ground nearby with blood trickling from his nose. Both of them were in some kind of lawn with Randall the only one appearing to be well enough to stand. Looking around Randall looked at the building they were in front of, looked at the whole stretch of it the lead up into the dark night sky.

As he looked around Randall became aware of a burning sensation on his arm and looked at his left in annoyance and noticed something surprising. Where the sleeve fell over his wrist there a burn mark and what appeared to be a red ash, bringing the sleeve up he could see the source of the burning. The tattoo he had was now a searing red, it was of a strange red symbol made of interweaving lines along with a bright red flame scripted with the name "_Agni Ignis"._

From the ground he could Peter throwing up his last meal before murmuring a question. "Where are we?" he asked before apparently passing out.

Looking up at the building Randall then went to his own backpack and pulled out a piece of parchment that was absolutely blank except for two things. Up on the left corner were the words "_A Product of the NMTC"_ and on the right was "_Model Two of Three"_ however the two pieces of scripture were soon joined by something else. As Randall stared at the map a small circle appeared that illustrated a tall gray building surrounded by forest.

"God damn it!" he screamed, "we're miles away from Grimdale now!"

"Well, where the hell are we?" Peter asked weakly as he managed to pull himself from the ground.

Instead of explaining Randall simply thrust the map in front of Peter that now had a name floating above the building that had manifested. In bold letters it said: "**NMTC Station Eight of Eight 'Anti-Zombie Fortress'**"

_(=I=)_

Johnny became aware of the fact that he was being pinned against a tree and looked down at the dark face that was grinning at him. He could see a bright flame in those eyes and could see the moonlight bouncing off those bright white teeth that seemed to fill up his vision. Slowly he became are that his attacker was speaking, speaking to him something that he already knew but still could not believe.

"You know you were tricked here," the dark face said with a bright grin, "the 'energy reading' you found was when _He_ came to the land. The only reason that _He_ let you enter this world is because _He_ wanted to slip back into your world. And now…" the attacker brought out a curved knife and brought it up with his left hand.

Johnny could see that a tattoo was on the attacker's wrist but then Johnny found he was being lifted off the ground with one hand wrapped around his neck. "When you die," the attacker said putting the knife closer to Johnny, "tell _Agni_ that Randall sent you," the attacker said with a smile brighter than ever.

_(=I=)_

**A/N: Okay, so all of that probably seemed VERY confusing but if you do play MineZ then you might recognize Agni as the Fire God that's referenced throughout the game. Oh and that whole part with Randall having like demonic powers is… well it'll be explained eventually. So will that dream Michael had that warned him of Peter and Randall but for now you get to wait for the next chapter! ;) **

**(Oh! And just a little bit of information; the "current" year in the land of MineZ is 2146 according to the NMTC, 1824 according to the "native people" of the land, and still 2013 for everyone else (like Kurt, Ben, Michael) who I think I'll call the Vagabonds. So hopefully that cleared up the issue of dates!)**

**P.S. Songs used:**

"**The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by Charles Daniels (1979)**

"**Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles (1969)**

**P.P.S.**

**If anyone has a "theory" or anything like that you should leave it in the comments! 'Cuz if you're right I'll be like "spot on!" and maybe I'll give a few hints. ^_^ Alright I've milked this A/N out long enough :P **


End file.
